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DECEMBER, 1913 



Bulletin of the University of Georgia 



Volume XIV 



Number 4 



Phelps -Stokes Fellowship 
Studies, No. 1 




SjLrsLy 



The Negroes of Athens, Georgia 



Entered at the Post Office at Athens, Ga., as Second Class Matter, August 31, 1905 
under Act of Congress of .Tuly 16th, 1904. Issued Monthly by the University. 



Serial No. 217 



DECEMBER, 1913 



Bulletin of the University of Georgia 



Volume XIV 



Number 4 



Phelps -Stokes Fellowship 
Studies, No. 1 










The Negroes of Athens, Georgia 



Entered at the Post Office at Athens. Ga.. as Second Class Matter, August 31, 1905 
under Act of Congress of July 16th. 1904. Issued Monthly by the University. 



Serial No. 217 

Coitected set, 



D. Of D. 

'^r' 3 191 r 






During the academic yeai- 1912-1913 tliere was establislied in the 
University of Georgia a Fellowship for the study of Negro problems 
In the South. The resolution of the Trustees of the Phelps-Stokes 
Fund in creating the Fellowship reads as follows: 

"Whereas, Miss Caroline Phelps Stokes in establishing the Phelps- 
Stokes Fund was especially solicitous to assist in improving the 
condition of the negro, and 

"Whereas, It is the conviction of the Trustees that one of the best 
methods of forwarding this purpose is to provide means to enable 
southern youth of broad sympathies to make a scientific study of the 
negro and of his adjustment to American civilization, 

"Resolved, That twelve thousand five hundred dollars ($12,500) 
be given to the University of Georgia for the permanent endowment 
of a research fellowship, on the following conditions: 

"1. The University shall appoint annually a Fellow in Sociology, 
for the study of the Negro. He shall pursue advanced studies under 
the direction of the departments of Sociology, Economics, Education 
or History, as may be determined in each case by the Chancellor. 
The Fellowship shall yield $500, and shall, after four years, be 
restricted to graduate students. 

"2. Each Fellow shall prepare a paper or thesis embodying the 
result of his investigations which shall be published by the University 
with assistance from the income of the fund, any surplus remaining 
being applicable to other objects incident to the main purpose of the 
Fellowship. A copy of these resolutions shall be incorporated in 
every publication issued under this foundation. 

"3. The right to make all necessary regulations, not inconsistent 
with the spirit and letter of these resolutions, is given to the Chan- 
cellor and Faculty, but no changes in the conditions of the foundation 
can be made without the mutual consent both of the Trustees of the 
University and of the Phelps-Stokes Fund." 

I appointed as the first Fellow under this foundation Mr. T. J. 
Woofter, Jr., a graduate of the University in the Class of 1912, and 
placed the work for the year under the direction of Associate Pro- 
fessor R. P. Brooks, of the department of History. The present 
study is published in pursuance of the requirement in the second 
condition attached to the Fellowship. 

DAVID C. BARROW, 
Chancellor, University of Georgia 



PREFACE. 

Among students of Southern race problems there is a strong con- 
viction that any rational program looking to the adjustment of 
the relations of whites and blacks must be based on a far wider 
knowledge of actual conditions in the South than we now have. 
There seems no practicable way of studying conditions in the mass. 
It is possible, however, to obtain concrete pictures of conditions in 
typical communities; and, for the purposes of this Fellowship, it 
was felt that the wisest course would be to undertake a study of 
the problems nearest at hand, viz., those connected with the negroes 
of Athens, where the University is located. 

Athens affords an exceptionally fine opportunity for a local study 
of the race problem on account of the peculiar history of the town, 
its situation on the borders of the black belt, and the numerical 
equality of the two races. 

An effort was made to reach every head of a negro family in 
Athens and to visit personally every negro home. I succeeded in 
inspecting 1,018 homes (91 per cent, of all residences in negro 
settlements), housing 1,224 families, or 4,798 individuals, 77.6 per 
cent, of the negro population as shown by the Census of 1910. The 
months of February, March, and April, 1913, were used for this 
house-to-house canvass. In every family I interviewed some respon- 
sible member, preferably the head of the family, asking a series of 
questions, a copy of which is given in the appendix. These questions 
elicited information as to the size of the family, the sources and 
amounts of incomes, expenditures, ownership of home, and the like. 
I then personally inspected the premises, taking notes of my ob- 
servations. 

In addition to the time expended in this canvass, I spent five 
months in obtaining data in regard to schools, churches, lodges, and 
domestic service. The questionnaires used are reproduced in the 
appendix. 

T. J. WOOFTER, JR. 

Athens, Ga., December, 1913. 



NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 5 

CHAPTER I. 

POPULATION AND PROPERTY. 

1. Origin and Location of Athens. 

It is perhaps natural that students should have in the past direc- 
ted their attention principally to the rural negroes of the South, 
since they form the predominant laboring class of an almost purely 
agricultural section; but there are in the towns of the South thou- 
sands of negroes, who, in the absence of the immigrant class of the 
northern cities, are indispensable to the industrial life of the com- 
munity. 

Many problems arise from the duality of the population of South- 
ern towns, and these problems are increasing in significance on 
account- of the constant trend of the negroes townwards.^ The 
Census of 1910 showed that one-fourth of the negroes (27.4 per 
cent.)- live in urban communities of over 2,500 population. They 
represent practically all of the common laborers of the towns, and a 
sprinkling of negroes are in business and various artisan callings. 
Therefore, for a considerable element of the negro population we 
have a different set of social problems from those presented by the 
rural negroes; and it seems worth while to make a study of the 
relations of the races and of negro conditions in a typical Southern 
town. 

There are several factors which influence the relations of the 
white and black elements of the population, such, for instance, as 
the location of the place, whether in a black belt or a white region; 
the history of the town; the proportion of blacks to whites; the size, 
topography, and general atmosphere of the community. Athens 
affords an exceptionally favorable field for a study of the conditions 
of negro life, as it is representative of the finest type of old southern 
cities. Set in a fine location amid the foothills of the Blue Ridge 
region of North Georgia, the town is picturesque, well-drained, and 
possesses an unusually pleasant climate, having an elevation of 800 
feet above sea level. At the time Athens was laid out in 1801 there 
were practically no white inhabitants in this section of Georgia. 
The Cherokees and Creeks had ceded the land so recently as 
1790, and at the time Athens was founded the Indian frontier was 
only a few miles to the west. The site of Athens was selected by a 
committee of the governing board of the University of Georgia as 



1 The statement has been made that negroes are moving I>ack to the covmtry 
but the census reports do not bear it out. In ISyu 19 per cent, of the total negro 
population lived in urban communities (Negroes in the I'nited States. Bulletin 
No. 8, p. 32) ; in 1900 22.7 per cent, lived in urban communities (Negroes in the 
United States, p. 11) and in 1910 this percentage increased to 27.4 (Abstract of 
the Thirteenth Census, p. 92). 

2 Abstract of the Thirteenth Census, p. 32. 



6 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

the location of the new college, chartered sixteen years previously. 
On this committee were George Walton, a signer of the Declaration 
of Independence, and Abraham Baldwin, a signer of the Federal 
Constitution of 1787 and the originator of the scheme to establish 
the University. The college was opened to students in 1801 and has 
had an uninterrupted existence, with the exception of the Civil War 
period. There were no towns anywhere about and the rural popula- 
tion was very sparse. The lime and hardware for the first building 
were brought by wagon from Augusta, one hundred miles away. 

The early comers were attracted by the educational facilities. 
They were a superior people socially, and their descendants have 
ever since given tone to the town. Athens grew up around the 
college, and the leading citizens for more than a century have had 
the advantage of collegiate training. It is natural, therefore, that 
Athens should be a town of unusual culture, possessing a citizenry 
of a different type from that of the newer industrial centres. 

Small farmers dominated the region tributary to Athens for a 
number of years. The inaccessibility of markets made it necessary 
for each farmer to be self-supporting. Staple crops were impractica- 
ble, and, hence, there were not many slaves, the few to be found 
being kept as household servants in Athens families. But with the 
coming of large scale cotton planting, slavery rapidly increased in 
importance, especially in the counties to the South of Athens. The 
counties immediately to the north of Clarke County (in which Athens 
is located) were not in ante-bellum times cotton producing counties. 
Athens was, in other words, located just on the border of the black 
belt,3 and this situation offers a peculiar advantage in that in the 
county and town the M'hite and black elements have for many years 
been about on a parity. This fact is shown by the following table: 

TABLE I. 

Population of Athens and Clarke County Since 1870. 





Athens 


Clarke County 


Yo-r. 


White. 


Negro. 


White. 


Negro. 


1870 


2248 


1679 


5539 


5679 


1880 


3017 


3011 


5313 


6388 


1890 


4715 


3924 


7072 


8111 


1900 


5055 


5190 


8230 


9378 


1910 


8612 


6316 


11,502 


11,767 



Both the group of "white" counties on the north and the "black" 
group on the south have contributed to swell the negro element of 
the population of Athens. The majority of the blacks, however, 
have come from the black belt. In the three decades just after the 
War Athens drew heavily on the old slaveholding counties, Ogle- 
thorpe, Wilkes, Greene, Morgan, and Putnam. Within the past ten 



3 Brooks, R. P., A Local Study of the Race Problem, rditiral Science Quaiter 
ly, June. 1!»n. 



NEGROES OP ATHENS, GA. 7 

years, however, the movement has been from scattering sources, the 
white counties of Jackson, Elbert, and Franklin furnishing the 
largest quota. The following table* shows the origin of the heads 
of negro families now living in Athens. Not all the heads of families 
were interviewed, but the table is sufficiently complete for practical 
purposes. 

TABLE II. 
Birthplace of Heads of Negi'o Families. 

Athens and Clarke County 635 

Black Counties. 

Oglethorpe 55 

Wilkes 51 

Greene 46 

Morgan 20 

Total from Black Counties 172 

White Counties. 

Oconee 77 

Jackson 31 

Elbert 34 

Franklin 16 

Madison 14 

Total from White Counties 172 

Scattering'' 200 

Grand Total 1179 

This table indicates the restlessness of the negro people. « Forty- 
seven per cent, of the heads of families interviewed have moved into 
Athens from some county outside of Clarke. Negroes have drifted 
to all the larger cities of the state, seeking the attractions of city life 
and relief from farm labor. 

Athens has been practically throughout its history free from any 
great friction between the races. Possibly in no other town or 
section in the South was there a higher type of slave-holding people 
to be found; and the post-bellum relations of the races have been 
most cordial. There has been little prejudice against the negro's 
taking his place as a respected element in industrial life and he has 
here educational opportunities far in advance of the normal town of 
the size of Athens. 

2. Property. 
The stable element of Athens negroes are acquiring property. In 
one or two individual cases, members of the race are quite well-to-do. 
The actual amount of the average holding is small, but this is true 
everywhere. The following table shows the growth of negro proper- 
ty in Georgia and in Athens by five year periods since 1875. 

* Compiled from answers to question 11, house to house schedule. See app. A. 

R The majority of these are from the black belt. 

6 Stone A. H.. Studies in tlie Amerioan Race Problem, (Longmans, Green, 
and Company. 190.5), p. 145. "I have rend a sreat deal about the negro's 'love 
of home,' and have heard much of the strength of his 'local attachment,' but in 
a not unkindly search I have been able to discover neither the one nor the other 
among the masses of the race. To my mind they are restless people." 



UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

TABLE III. 
Property Owaied by Negroes." 



City find Town Realty City and Town Realty 

Year I n Georgia In Athens. 

1875" $r,203,202 $ 74,925 

1880 1,201,992 81,380 

1885 2,098,787 104,745 

1890 3,642,586 153,790 

1895 4,436,778 192,175 

1900 4,361,390 165,005 

1905 5,512,217 158,910 

1910 8,812,479 269,290 



Average yearly increase 217,407 5,267 



Several negroes own buildings in which business is conducted; the 
negro churches and lodges have titles to their buildings; and there 
is a considerable number of negroes who own their residences. The 
total property returned for taxation in 1912 was $277,464,8 repre- 
senting the possessions of 681 property owners. The average hold- 
ing is, therefore, $407.00. Of the total number of tax payers, 618, 
or 89 per cent., possess less than a thousand dollars worth of property 
The small extent to which negro property is concentrated in a few 
hands is shown in Table IV. 

TABLE IV. 

Negro Holdings Classified According to Value." 



1 Holding between $15,000 and $20,000 

" " 5,000 " 15,000 

14 " " 2,000 " 5,000 

48 " " 1,000 " 2,000 

618 " under 1,000 



TCompti-ollfi' (;eiieriil of Georgia, Reports, 1S75, ISSO, 1S85, 1890, 1895, 1900, 
1905, 1910. 

8 Tax rtlsest Cit.v of Athens, 1912. 

9 Ibid. Cit.v renlty is assessed b.v a Board of Assessors at about two-thirds 
of its market value. 



NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 



CHAPTER II. 

SETTLEMENTS AND RENTS. 

There is no one section of Athens set aside by niunicipal regula- 
tion for negroes. They live in several different localities, and yet 
there are very few blocks in which both white and colored people live, 
for the reason that the whites do not like such neighborhoods and 
the average negro cannot afford any other. While the color line 
can actually be drawn on the map of Athens, this segregation is 
due to economic and social, not to municipal, laws. The accompany- 
ing map shows the location of negro settlements. 




MAP 
ATHEN5-0A 
SHOWING 
NLGTiO 
SETTLEMENTS 



Map showing principal residence streets of Athens and the location of negro 

communities. (Milledge Ave. should have been extended so as to touch 

Prince Ave. at negro settlement number 13). 



1. Topogi'aphy of Athens. 

There are a few scattered negro houseSj but for the most part 
the negroes live in groups of from 30 to 300 families. Athens is 
built on unusually broken and hilly land, and the negro settlements 



10 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

are found in the low places between the ridges, and on the outskirts 
of the town. It is in such localities that cheap property can be had. 

The settlements in the depressions are sandwiched in between 
the streets which form the white business and the residence portions 
of the town, an arrangement quite natural jon account of the rolling 
ch:i.racter of the streets. The white or most valuable properties 
follow the ridges; the less valuable properties, following the hol- 
lows and streams which run through the town, being occupied by 
negroes. 

Other cheaper properties may, however, be had on the outskirts 
of town, and those who instinctively seek a better neighborhood 
move out into these suburbs, which are cheap on account of their 
inaccessibility. Thus the town is checkered with white and black 
neighborhoods. The meanderings of one street will illustrate the 
location of negro residence blocks. 

2. Proximity of White and lilack Settlements. 

Broad street, at its eastern limit, near one of the town's large 
fertilizer factories, runs through a scattered negro settlement. Next, 
it comes to a white residence street. Crossing the river it rises 
into the business section of town, but just on the outer business 
blocks there is an undesirable spot where a spur track intersects 
the street. Here negroes have rented little unpainted shacks, which 
are operated as fish shops, restaurants, and beer saloons for negroes, 
one room being ordinarily used as the residence of the proprietor. 

This is the general loafing place for a dirty, noisy, crowd on 
Saturday nights and is known in police court circles as "Wood's 
Corner." Leaving the business section of town the street drops 
down into a hollow and crosses a brook. At this point is a negro 
settlement, the second in size in the town. On this section of Broad 
there are two negro churches, a negro lodge hall, and several 
small grocery stores. Rising over another ridge, Broad intersects 
the principal white Yesjr^f^l^cf^ ^i^'-eet, Milledge Avenue,^ the last 
mentioned negro settlement rxmning within one block of this street. 
Between Milledge and the city limits Broad again becomes black, 
uassing through the largest of all the negro settlements. 

The proximity of whites and negroes sometimes produces friction. 
Noisy gatherings of negroes are seriously objected to by whites living 
on streets nearby. In one instance an injunction had to be obtained 
against a lodge, abating its dances as a public nuisance. This lodge 
hall was within a block of a white residence street, and the wild 
orgies were frequently prolonged into the early hours of the morning. 



1 Land fronting on Milledge at the corner of Milledge and Broad is worth 
ten times as much per foot as property facing Broad Street one block on either 
side of Milledge. 



NEGROES OP ATHENS, GA. 



11 



3. Extent and Character of Negro Settlements. 

There are eight large negro settlements, and five small groups 
of houses; but as a general rule, the small groups are within easy 
distance of a larger settlement. 

The largest of these settlements is on the west end of Broad 
street and is a little town in itself. Eleven hundred and thirty-six 
of the city's 6300 negroes live in this locality, and the whole range 
of negro life is well represented. The negroes in this part of town 
are quiet, and in many cases home-owning laborers. Many have 
picked this settlement because the women cook for white families 




::mF^ 



Probably tbe best negro home in Athens. 

living in the neighboring residence section, some because they wash 
for people in that part of town, and others because certain parts of 
it are on the outskirts of town where the air is freer and fresher. 

The smallest of the groups of negro houses is the one of most 
significance, when its location is considered. This group occupies 
one block of Milledge avenue and one Block of Prince avenue at 
their intersection, and is just between two street car lines. ^ These 
are the principal residence streets of the town. Four of the six 
negro houses in this group are owned by negroes and two are 



2 Marked No. 13 on Map of Athens. 



12 



UNIVERSITY OP GEORGIA. 



rented. In all there are nine families in this settlement, who have 
risen in the social scale and moved into a better part of the city. 
A barber who has for j^ears been patronized by some of the old 
families of Athens owns one of these houses. Another home-owner 
is a cateress, an ex-slave, who is dear to many homes of the city, 
not only on account of the fineness of her confection, but also by 
reason of the fact that many people cannot pass her house without 
remembering that it was she who baked their wedding cake. Another 
home is owned by a former postmaster of Athens, a negro of consid- 
erable means. The fourth house is owned by a salaried clerk em- 
ployed in the postoffice. The two houses rented are occupied by five 
other equally as quiet, but not so prosperous, families. 




Showing the crowdhig togethei- of negro homes in the heart of Athens. 

Settlement No. 9. 



On account of the character of these negroes no serious objection 
has been offered to their rising from the conditions in which other 
negroes live. Their houses are not objectionable. All have water 
connections and other conveniences. Statements made later touch- 
ing sanitary conditions do not apply to this group of homes. 

In all the larger settlements we find self-supporting negroes who 
own homes, others who earn enough to support themselves fairly 
well, considering their standard of living; and still others who 
make a bare subsistence. 

The people live in their two-, three- and four-room houses closely 



NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 13 

crowded. The condition of houses varies very little from settlement 
to settlement among the houses that are rented. Those that are 
owned are of course kept with more care. The two- or three-room 
house is the most usual style provided for renters. 

The sanitation of these settlements receives practically no atten- 
tion or supervision from the city. Instead of seeing that the 
negroes do not live under disease breeding conditions, the city 
lets the negro settlements take care of themselves, and leaves the 
health of the negro, and consequently the health of his employer, 
to the caprice of the negro's habits and the rapacity of landlords. 
A single sanitary inspector attends to the most flagrant outrages, 
but the best he can do is to skim over the town once a month. 

4. Rental Property. 

It would seem that, on account of the undesirability and incon- 
venience of the localities in which these houses are situated, and 
the cheapness of the houses, a low scale of rents should prevail. 
But, as is usually the case, negro rental property is looked on by the 
landlord class as one of the best investments for small amounts of 
money. 

The average rent per room in the two largest settlements of the 
town for the 801^ rooms rented is $1.77 per month. The houses 
average 3.4 rooms each, the average rent per house being $6.00 
per month, from 15 to 20 per cent, interest on the investment. 

These houses are in the best negro settlements, but when the 
value of the house, built as it is of loose boards, seldom kept in 
repair, with no water or light connections, is considered, the rental 
appears very high. In fact, it is in the nature of a burden placed 
upon the weak by the strong. There is some evidence also that the 
rent of these houses is regulated to fit the price that the "market 
will bear. A negro will rent a house paying $6.50 for it when his 
neighbor is paying $6.00 for a house which is as like it as one pea 
to its neighbor. 

Rental does not vary from the poorer to the better settlements 
for houses similar in value. In settlements numbers 5 and 9 on the 
map, known as "Morristown" and "Lickskillet," the worst settle- 
ments, the 85 houses are crowded, inconvenient, and poorly kept. 
Lickskillet is intersected by spur tracks from railroads, is on a 
steep hillside sloping down to the river, and its streets are rough 
and rocky. These 85 houses average $6.52 per month for their 
rental, or $2.04 per room.* This is a rental of $6.00 per annum 



Settlement Rooms Houses Rent per mouth 

1 431 133 

2 370 104 



V 



Total 801 237 $1,422.70 

4 Settlement Rooms Houses Rent per Mouth 



5 141 41 .$2.56.50 

130 44 20S.50 

Scattering 02 31 170.2.5 



14 



UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 



higher than the annual rental of the houses in the better settlements. 
In odd places, inconvenient groups of houses here and there, the 
rental, while it averages a few cents lower per house, actually rises 
higher in the average rent per room. The 31 houses in odd groups 
rent for $179.25 or $5.82 per house. The average rent per room 
is $1.95 per month, or above the average of the whole town 
($1.76) ;5 or e\en above the average of the best settlements 
($1.77). 




The worst type of negro house. 

This simply means that the negro, occupying an inferior bargain- 
ing position, is exploited by the owners of this class of rental prop- 
erty. If the hoiu'c is near his place of employment, he will re'.it 
property worth about $400.00 and pay $5.00 or $6.00 a month for 
it, regardless of its comfort, and neglect hif: person and family es 
a result. 

In several cases a bricklayer earning $2.00 or $3.00 a day was 
found occupying one-half of a double house, and a washerwoman, 
widowed or separated from her husband, and supporting children 
on a wage of $3.00 to $4.00 per week, was found living in the other 
half, and paying the same rent, apparently because she was not 
shrewd enough to look around for cheaper quarters. 



5 Total houses rented 611; rooms 19.^S; rent $3414.95. 



NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 



15 



The settlements where negroes own most of the property are in 
better condition. Naturally the negro who has sense enough to 
know the condition of these settlements, and money enough to get 
away from them, wants to buy his property elsewhere. Some few 
buy or have inherited property in the best blocks of the congested 
settlements, but for the most part they buy back on the outlying 
hills, upon which is a ring of negro settlements almost surrounding 
the town. 

In the outlying settlements the property owners are almost as 
numerous as the renters. In fact, the only settlements where the 




A negro-owned home in one of the suburban settlements. 

owners of property outnumber the renters are the three which lie 
on the hills across the river from the town proper, where the houses 
have more or less space about them. In these places, 145 families'* 
own their homes, and much of the property which is not owned by 
those occupying it is owned by negro landlords. 

Such conditions make the above described settlements fall into 



6 Ownership of property in outlying settlements: 
Settlement Owners Renters 

10 48 45 

11 27 20 

12 70 20 



Total 



145 



85 



Buying on Instalments 
2 

6 
4 

12 



16 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

two rough groups: First, those settlements in well drained but 
inaccessible parts of to,wn, where many negroes own property; and, 
second, those in unwholesome parts of town, nearer the business 
section, where renters predominate. In all other respects, such as 
rents, condition of streets, and style of houses, these settlements are 
very similar. 



NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 17 

CHAPTER HI. 

HEALTH AND HOUSING. 

1. Exterior of Houses. 

The sanitary conditions of negro settlements in Athens are a 
menace to the health of the town. There are, it is true, houses and 
premises which are kept in a clean and orderly manner. These are 
the ones owned by the more self-respecting class. As a rule the 
rented house is dirty inside and out, poorly ventilated, and in many 
cases leaky. The premises are also ill-kept or oftener not kept at all. 

By actual count, only 47 per cent., or 474 out of the 1018 houses, 
were painted, and some "painted" houses were so counted through 
charity to the painter. The paint used was thin, usually put on for 
gaudy color rather than protection, and in many cases the house 
had not been painted for a long time and the little paint used had 
almost worn off. A few were white-washed, and the rest were 
covered with bare boards. Those built soon after the War are 
badly weatherworn. 

2. Ijack of AVater Connection. 

Only ten houses in the whole town have inside closets, the rest 
having no sewer connections whatever. Besides this inconvenience, 
the majority of negroes use well water, only twenty-six houses 
being furnished with hydrants. The newer houses have city water 
connections, but in most of the blocks occupied by negroes there 
are neither water nor sewer mains. 

3. Number of Persons Per Room. 

In these houses, which are all comparatively small, and especially 
in the rented houses, there is much crowding together of persons. 
One case of 15 persons in 3 rooms, and one of 11 in 2 rooms came to 
light, but these were the rarer instances. The average number of 
occupants per room for the 1018 houses, including both owned and 
rented, was 1.32 persons. In fifty per cent, of the houses, one of 
the "rooms" was a mere shed kitchen with just space enough for 
a stove and a wood box. All three-room houses have such an apart- 
ment, while most of the four- and the five-room houses have one 
also. This, of course, increases the total number of rooms occupied, 
and consequently the crowding is worse than the actual average 
indicates. 

One encouraging feature of tenancy in Athens is that one-room 
houses are no longer built. For the most part this style of house is 
disappearing from Athens, indicating that the negroes of the city, 
although they still live in the midst of insanitary conditions, are 
much better off than those who live in localities where the one-room 
cabin still prevails. 



18 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

The following table indicates the crowding in houses: 

TABLE V. 

Rooms Occupied by Negro Families. 



Families. 


Rooms. 


Families. 


Rooms. 


148 living 

517 

313 

156 


in 1 room. 

•' 2 

" 3 

" 4 


43 

27 

9 

11 


living 


in 5 rooms. 
6 

" over 7 " 


1134 '• 


" fewer than 
5 rooms. 


90 


t i 


" 5 or more rooms. 



Thus it appears that the two- and three-room houses are the 
most usual, and that 1134 (93 per cent.) of the 1224 families 
live in houses of fewer than five rooms. A comparison of the 
number of houses (1018) with the number of families (1224) shows 
that there are 206 more families than houses. That is to say, there 
are 412 families occupying only half a house, the other half being 
rented by another family. In this case there is only a thin board 
partition between the two families, and in most cases they use the 
same front door, well, porch, and sometimes the same kitchen. 

4. Filthy Condition of Homes. 

Although these houses are not the worst to be seen in the South, 
they are in many cases not fit habitations for human beings. The 
ventilation of the house and the drainage of the premises are sadly 
neglected. The floors are dirty, the doors and windows are seldom 
cleaned. This makes the interior of a negro house present an 
unattractive and untidy appearance. Practically no care is taken 
of the premises. A few houses, instead of having proper drainage, 
have the basement boarded up, and chickens, goats, or dogs are 
kept under the house, with only a loose board floor between the 
inmates and the improvised barnyard. In the day time the cooking 
or ironing of clothes is done before the open fire place, and the 
result is a room that is smoky and choking with a malodorous com- 
bination of smells. 

5. The Premises. 

A more detailed examination of the premises surrounding these 
houses showed that the inmates of 1008 of them use outside privies 
in some form, most of them having a small earth closet close to 
the house. A few have no privy at all on the premises, that of a 
neighbor being used. In such cases the landlords build no fence 
between the houses, building one joint privy for four or five 
houses. In one instance the inmates of five houses were using 
one small box-like house, 6' x 4', and in another four large double 
houses were using a joint privy of about the same dimensions. 



NEGROES OP ATHENS, GA. 



19 



Though the premises of the homeowners are in some instances 
carelessly kept, the premises of rented houses are incredibly filthy. 
If the house is not quite new, the privy is, as a rule, in a most 
dilapidated condition and should be condemned. Many are minus 
a door, an old gunny sack being nailed across the opening to serve 
as a curtain. Many have no back, i. e., have a vault directly ex- 
posed to the flies; while there are practically none that have any 
receptacle whatever for retaining the excrement, not even a board 
floor beneath the vault to keep the soil from becoming directly 
contaminated thereby. 




Showing the comiiiou type of privy. 



6. Pollution of Water Supi»ly. 

The soil is further polluted by the continued dumping of waste 
water and scraps in the backyards. No negro rented house has such 
a thing as a sink and all washing is done in the back yard, where 
the water is emptied on the ground. 

And around these privies and waste-water dumps are the 519 
wells from which the negroes of the -city get most of their water. 
Under such conditions the water can but be unhealthy and typhoid 
breeding. The city bacteriologist has tested 47 wells in the past two 
years, and reported that most of them should have been condemned. 



20 UNIVERSITY OP GEORGIA. 



7. Negro Communities Hotbeds of Disease. 

Such are the insanitary conditions found almost universally among 
negro renters, and which are more or less common to all negro 
houses. In many cases these crowded, dirty houses are the cause 
of disease. And it must be kept in mind that the diseases which go 
hand in hand with such conditions cannot be confined to the 
negro settlements. Unhealthy conditions here affect every part 
of the community, both through the location of the settlements and 
through the contact of the races as employer and employee. It is 
in the neglect of these hot-beds of disease that the municipality sins 
most grievously against itself, including both the stronger and the 
wealcer race. If the white people were fully cognizant of the 
danger incurred by living in close contact with such insanitary condi- 
tions they would doubtless demand that sewer connections be made, 
or that sanitary privies be built. Any method of disposing of filth 
other than by a proper sewage system is, of course, unsafe, but, 
above all, the carelessly built privy is a menace to the community, 
especially when the negro communities are as close to white resi- 
dence quarters as is the case in Athens. 

Improvements on these small out-houses would hardly cost $3.00 
per house, and would serve to divert some of the high rentals to 
public use, — making the city more sanitary. The lessening of soil 
pollution by requiring all privy vaults to be floored, provided with 
backs, and made as fly proof as possible, together with a slight 
sanitary tax levied on the owners of these houses, to be disbursed 
on a larger force of sanitary police, would rob the city fly of many 
of his terrors; would prevent hook worm in many cases, lessen 
typhoid fever, and go far to prevent epidemics among both white 
and negro families. 

Is it a wonder that negroes die of typhoid and tuberculosis? Is 
it a wonder that they are often sick, when they live under such 
conditions, breathe such air, and drink such water? And is it a 
wonder that they carry diseases into the homes of their whitu 
employers? 

A little over a year ago a white child died in Athens, a beautiful 
child of great promise; recently a second child died, a bright little 
boy in whom the whole neighborhood was interested. These two 
children died of tubercular meningitis, the tubercular compli- 
cation being contagious. It developed that the nurses of these 
two children were sisters and were consumptives. Thus it is 
that the flower of the future South is blighted by ignorance. We 
live in a hot bed of disease and are complacent. 

It is not impossible to make negroes take pride in their houses. 
Those who own homes and have a strong pride of possession in 
them, keep their persons and their premises in an orderly manner. 
Some seventy-five have given their houses a quaint beauty, with 



NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 21 

their small porch trellised with green vines, old fashioned garden, 
small violet beds, and clean swept sand walks. 

The burning question before the people of the South, however, 
is to have some such ideals of cleanliness instilled into the minds 
of the mass of negroes who now live in filth; and the church, the 
home and the school must be developed in order that the rising 
generation may acquire higher ideals. The house, which is in 
many cases a mere shelter, must be changed into a home. 

Although there are 184 negro housekeepers in Athens whose 
sole employment is that of caring for their homes and children, 
and many others are enabled to stay at home all day, by taking 
in washing, there are many negro mothers who pay little attention 
to the care of their family. This is due to the abnormal number 
of women on whom devolves the necessity of providing for a 
family. This is partly due to the large number of illegitimate 
children, partly to the large number of separations, and partly 
to the death of husbands. To create a home in every house 
requires a different standard of family morality from that which 
now prevails among the negroes of Athens. 

The following statement of the conjugal condition of women with 
children under eighteen years of age illustrates the prevalent loose- 
ness of family ties. 

Number single, 30 4 per cent, of total. 

Number widowed, 113 16 per cent, of total. 

Number separated, 53 7 per cent, of total. 

Number married and living with 

husbands, 546 73 per cent, of total. 

Total number of women rearing children, 742. 

From the above statement it appears that at least 2 7 per cent. 
of the females with children are self-supporting. Such a proportion 
of women who have the problem of wage earning in addition to 
that of raising children is hard on the children, for the winning 
of bread cannot be neglected. It means that the children do not 
get the care and training which they should have, and that the next 
generation is growing up without ideals of sanitation and morals. 

With this, and other less evident phases of immorality, it is 
difficult for the school to deal, as the children from these homes 
have a hard time getting to school. The remedies should be applied 
in such cases through church work, and patient, friendly settlement 
work. 



22 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

CHAPTER IV. 
THE SCHOOL. 

The prevalence of conditions such as those just described has a 
farreachlng effect in the general life of the community. The absence 
of sewer connections and of wholesome drinking water and the 
accumulation of filth in negro settlements make it wellnigh impossi- 
ble to enforce sanitary regulations. The principal cause of the 
disease must first be remo\ed before its symptoms can be treated 
with any hope of success. From the viewpoint of the white people 
the matter is most serious, because their own care in these matters 
is nullified by the conditions existing a block off in a negro com- 
munity. The evil effects of the negro's way of living get even into 
the white home, where food is cooked by servants from unclean sur- 
roundings, and children are cared for by nurses whose bodies and 
minds are contaminated by the evil conditions under which they 
live. 

Here is an opportunity for the best educators of the South to 
adapt a system of eiucation to the needs of the negro race in its 
present environment. For ignorance and a low standard of life 
are largely responsible for these conditions. 

1. Percentage of Illiteracy and School Attendance. 

Illiteracy among negroes is decreasing by leaps and bounds, but 
there is still an appalling number reported by the census as unable 
to read and write. i For the city of Athens, the census of 1910 gives 
the following statistics: 

TABLE VI. 
Age and Literacy.^ 







Total 


Male 


Female 


Age 10 to 20 — 


Literate 


1386 


573 


813 




Illiterate 


232 


139 


93 


Age 21 and over- 


—Literate 


1976 


919 


1057 




Illiterate 


1368 


564 


804 


Total — 


Literate 


3362 


(68 per cent.) 






Illiterate 


1600 


(32 per cent.) 





There were enrolled (in 1912) in the public and private schools 
for negroes of Athens 1662 children. Fourteen hundred and seven- 
ty-seven of this number are pupils living in the city, and 185 are 
boarding pupils. The United States Census for 1910 reports 5 5 over 



1 Main' so-cnllod literate negroes report that they are able to read "a little." 
Tlicse are old ne.iiri es who li.-ne nut been to school or used their schooling for 
a long time and have forgotten how to read and write. 

-This table w-es '<*^oi-P'T '-om the Bureau of the Census, and is not to be 
found in any published reports. 



NEGROES OP ATHENS, GA. 23 

18 years of age who are in school in Athens. This brings the enroll- 
ment of children between the ages of 6 and 18 down to 1422. This 
number, 1422, is 87 per cent, of the number of children between 6 
and 18 enumerated by the census of 1910 (1639).3 

The percentage of negroes in school (87), allowing for consid- 
erable error, is still much greater than the percentage of literacy 
(68). We can consequently expect an increase in the literacy of 
the negro in the future. 

2. The First School. 

The South, wedded as it was to the private school idea before the 
War, took slowly to the public school system. It was not until the 
year 1886 that the public school system was inaugurated in the 
city of Athens. Before this time, however, Knox Institute and In- 
dustrial School (then Knox School) was opened for negroes. 

This school was established in a small vv^ay by the Freedman's 
Bureau immediately after the War. It has had a faii'ly steady 
growth, and it now consists of the original two-story building which 
is used as a dormitory for out of town girls; Carnegie Hall, a new 
brick building given by Andrew Carnegie two years ago and which 
is the academic building; and in addition a small building which is 
used for a dormitory for out of town boys. The class rooms in 
Carnegie Hall are large and well lighted, and there is adequate 
space for the pupils enrolled. 

The school is now supported by the American Missionary Asso- 
ciation in part, and in part by tuition fees ranging from fifty cents 
per month in the primary grades to $1.-50 in instrumental music. 
The students keep the buildings in excellent order, working on them 
at odd times. The campus is located in the very center of the 
negro population of the town, just where a public negro high school 
should be located. 

The teachers of Knox Institute were, for the most part, trained 
in Atlanta and Fiske Universities. They receive about $35 per 
month, $25 in money, board and lodging in the school being esti- 
mated at $10. 

Notwithstanding the fact that there is a fairly good public school 
system in Athens for negroes, many parents stint themselves to 
send their children to Knox Institute and the other private schools.* 
This is partly accounted for by the crowded condition of the public 



3 The 1910 Census eunmerates only 1G30 uegro children of schox)l age. An 
enrollment of 1422 is apparently too high a proportion of those of school age 
enrolled in schools, especially as the inquiry, which did not attempt to reach 
e\ery family, shows 164 out of school at work. The 1913 school census, taken 
by the Board of Education, further muddies the waters by showing only 1.59;3 
negro children of school age, less than the number enumerated by the census 
three years previously. 

i In many cases the question "What School do your children attend" was 
answered by the name of one of the private schools. The added statement that 
"they did not attend no free school" was made with a good deal of pride. 



24 



UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 



schools, and partly because of a lingering of the old-south idea that 
it is a reflection on a child to attend a "free school." 

Knox Institute stands well with the colored community and with 
the whites, who are often called on to address the pupils. Its 
curriculum, covering ten grades,^ is adapted to prepare for negro 
colleges. 

In 1912 there were 272 pupils enrolled in the regular school of 
Knox Institute, 87 of whom were from out of the city. In addition 
to the regular grades, there is a kindergarten and a special depart- 
ment of music and domestic science which swell the enrollment to 
311.<5 The average daily attendance is about 185. ■!■ 

3. Beginning of Public Schools. 

Knox Institute was alone in the field of negro education in 
Athens until the year 1886. During the year 1885, "Contending 
against a deep-rooted opposition to the public school idea, the 
Board of Education erected two two-story, ten-roomed brick build- 
ings, one for each race," as public schools. During the first year 
there was a ratio of 41 negroes to 3 9 whites in the public schools, 
and a ratio of 61 pupils to each colored teacher. In 1893 the old 
colored school was remodeled and given to the whites, and two 
six-room frame buildings were substituted for the one ten-room 
building. These new buildings were erected on opposite sides of 
town. In the first year of operation with two public school build- 
ings, 746 pupils, or 62 pupils to a room and teacher, were enrolled. 

The attendance on both white and negro schools compared in 
tabular form for five year periods since that time is as follows :« 

TABLE VII. 

Athens City Schools, 1893-1912. 



Year. 


No. Enui 
White. 


Iterated. 
Negro. 


Enroll 
White. 


ment. 
Negro. 


Av. Daily A 

White. 


ttendance. 
Negro. 


1893 


1374 


1426 


853 


746 


551 


411 


1898 


1346 


1765 


853 


700 


621 


439 


1903 


1412 


1562 


949 


685 


725 


425 


1908 


1598 


1562 


1255 


685 


879 


419 


19129 






1767 


1004 


1205 


620 



5 Knox Institute, beginning with next year, will have a curriculum covering 
twelve grades. 

6 Knox Institute Catalogue (Athens, Georgia, 1912), pp. 22-27. 
T Estimated by Principal Clark. 

8 Superintendent Athens City Schools, Reports, 1S93, p. S; 1S9S, p. 8; 1913, 
p. 9; 1908, pp. 9-10; 1912, pp. 0-7. 

9 The school population for 1912 is not known, since according to Georgia 
law the school census is taken every five years, and 1912, unfortunately, was not 
a census year. 



NEGROES OP ATHENS, GA. 



25 



Prom the above table it appears that there was some increase in 
the white and negro school population during the 15 years from 
1893 to 1908. The enrollment in negro schools was smaller at 
the end of this period than it was at the beginning, and the average 
daily attendance increased only slightly. The enrollment in white 
schools has more than kept pace ,with the increase in white school 
population. 

4. Cramped Condition of Negro Public Schools Since 1893. 

The explanation of this steady growth in white schools lies in 
the fact that the white school facilities increased from two buildings 
in 1886 to ten, with 48 teachers, in 1908. The negro schools, how- 
ever, had only their original two buildings with 14 teachers up to 
1911. These two buildings were on opposite sides of town, prac- 
tically on the city limits, making them three miles apart, with some 
negro settlements two miles from a school. Consequently the little 
children could not be placed in school, and if they could have been, 
the schools were too crowded for them to have thorough instruction. 

The need of another negro school became evident, and a four- 
room grade school building was added in 1911-12, the corps of 
teachers being increased to 17. This school caused the. enrollment 
in negro schools to jump to 1001, the average daily attendance in- 
creasing to 620, an increase of 201 over the average attendance in 
1908. A more detailed study of the school figures for 1912 is as 
follows: 

TABLE VIII. 
Athens City Schools, 1912. 



Color. 



Enrollment. 
Male Pemale 



Average 
Attendance. 



Teachers. 



Pupils to 
Teacher. 



White 
Negro 



909 
438 



858 
566 



1,205 
620 



48 
17 



36.8 
57.3 



This average of 58.8 pupils per teacher does not give a fair idea 
of the crowded condition of the negro public schools until we con- 
sider that the white schools are full with 36 to a teacher. Also, 
57 pupils for all grades means that the congestion in the lower 
grades is much greater. 

In the first grade at West Broad Street school this year (1912- 
1913) there was an enrollment of 140 with an average daily at- 
tendance of 105. This large number compels the one teacher to 
teach in relays, holding one section until 11:30 o'clock and then 
teaching section number two until 2 o'clock. 

There are in the West Broad Street schooFo only six rooms for 
ten grades (including the high school), and only eight teachers. 



10 From Books of Principal of West Broad Street School. 



26 



UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 



Under conditions sucli as this it is hard to do any work of merit, 
and yet several unexpected visits to the school showed that the 
children were learning very well what was put before them. Pro- 
fessor S. C. Harris, the principal of this school, has the confidence 
of the white people of the town, and they are beginning to cooperate 
with him in his work. 

The excess of females over males in attendance on the schools 
(see above table for 1912) is due partly to the fact that there are, 
according to the 1910 census, 622 more females in the town than 
males. A second factor is the numerous avenues of employment 
which tempt the small negro boy away from school, such as boot- 
black, news-boy, delivery boy, and the like. 




The West Broad Street public school for negroes. 



The teachers in the public schools are working well under diffi- 
culties. A short time ago when it seemed that the attendance was 
falling off, they were known to drum up pupils for the schools, and 
now they use every effort to get the parents to cooperate with them 
to keep the average daily attendance up to as high a standard as 
possible. 

5. Finances of Public Schools. 

The salaries of these teachers range from $250.00 to $350.00 per 
year, the principals receiving, one $400.00, one $480.00 and one 
$750.00. The teachers were for the most part trained in Atlanta 



NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 27 

University. One notable exception to this rule was the fourth grade 
teacher at West Broad Street school, who was prepared in Hampton 
Institute. In her room the children were drilled like soldiers and 
seemed to take great interest in their work. 

In order to support this system of white and negro schools, the 
city appropriates about 40 per cent, of the revenue derived from a 
tax of one and one-fourth mills on all property. This fund is, of 
course, supplemented by the state school fund. 

For the year 1911-12 the disbursement for city schools was as 
follows: 

Salaries White Teachers $34,003 

Salaries Negro Teachers 6.080^^ 

Total Salaries $40,083 

To be apportioned between eight .white 
and three negro schools for janitors, 

repairs, etc. 15,117 



Total $55,200 

6. Aims and Equipment of Private Schools. 

There are two small and two large private schools in the city of 
Athens, all of which are in parts of the town from which the public 
schools are not easily reached. The relative size and importance of 
these schools is indicated in the following table: 

TABLE IX. 

Enrollment in Schools, 1913." 





Public 


Knox 


Jeruel 


Anne Smith 


Heard |Total Private 


From Athens 
Boarders 


1004 


185 

87 


1 126 
1 "^1 


114 

27 


78 


503 
185 


Total 


1004 


272 


1 197 


141 


78 1 688 



Thus it is seen that 3 3 per cent, of the negro children of Athens 
are enrolled in private schools. 

6. Aims and Equipment. 

rhe .J. Thomas Heard University, notwithstanding its name, goes 
only through the sixth grade. The remaining three schools go from 
the first through the high school grades. The Heard school was 
built by a negro lawyer of Athens, and is taught by his wife in the 
daytime, having a night department in which both Heard and his 
wife teach. It would have been more fortunate had this school 
been located in some other part of town than on its present site. 
It is on the lot next to Knox Institute, the oldest and largest private 
school, and consequently there is no good will lost between the 
schools. Heard's idea in building and naming his school was, in the 

11 All figures, excepting salaries, from Report of Superintendent Athens Cit.v 
Schools, 1912, p. 5. Salaries of teachers frouj payroll of secretary Board of 
Education. 

12 From books of principals. 



28 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

words of his wife, "that it may some day grow into a University, 
and be a factor in the uplift of his race." 

The Anne Smith School is next in size, with an enrollment of 
141. This school was established by a negro woman who received 
her training at Atlanta University, and taught for awhile at Knox 
Institute. Her object is to care for a section of town not covered 
by the public schools, and to furnish a school where children who 
have to help their parents can attend at odd times. For this reason 
there is no basis for computing the average daily attendance on her 
school. During the morning that the investigator spent in her 
school-room, the children came in at odd times, always giving, 
however, their excuse for tardiness, and in most cases this excuse 
was that they were detained to do some errand for their parents. 
In some cases the cause of delay was the long trip which had to 
be taken, the pupils coming in from outlying sections of the 
county. 

Her method, although impracticable for a teacher who has to 
instruct a large number of children, was, in her small school, 
admirably adapted to the different types of negro children. She 
had no definite curriculum which had to be covered in a year's 
time. She sometimes kept one pupil on a lesson for several days, 
and sometimes worked with them for a long time at the board. 
In this way she adapts the studies and exercises to the smarter 
mulattoes and also to the duller blacks. 

The next school in size is Jeruel Academy. This school is sup- 
ported partly by the American Baptist Missionary Society, and 
partly by the Negro Baptist Churches of the surrounding counties. 
The curriculum covered is about the same as in the public schools, 
having very little industrial work. Professor J. H. Brown, who is 
at the head of this institution, is working every minute to inspire 
the members of his race with a pride in what they do, and at the 
same time he is a great exponent of race cooperation and of the 
need of white help for the negro. Whenever possible he calls on 
white speakers to address his meetings, and on white men for 
advice. 

Jeruel Academy is reaching out more than the other private 
schools for the negroes in the surrounding counties. Supported 
by the negro churches of the neighborhood, and having a farmer's 
conference every year, Jeruel is making steps towards broadening 
its field from that of a local school to a factor in the education of 
the negro in northeast Georgia. 

7. High Schools. 

The public schools and three of the four private schools have high 
school departments. Although under the present system of small 
negro schools all four of the high schools are needed, it seems that 
Athens has more than her share, when we consider that there are 
only five towns in the State of Georgia where a high school is a 



NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 29 

part of the public school facilities for negroes, and only twelve where 
a high school education may be had in either public or private school. 
The enrollment in these high schools is as follows: 

TABLE X. 
High School Eiirollment.12 
Sexl Public. Knox. Jeruel. Anne Smith. Total. 

Female 33 22 15 9 79 

Male 9 15 8 10 42 



Toeal 42 37 23 19 121 



The above table is an exemplification of the fact that females con- 
tinue in school longer than males, only one-third of the high school 
pupils being boys. 

Special high school courses adapted to the needs of the pupils 
are very little used in the South, and consequently little effort has 
been made to inject vocational training into the curricula of these 
schools. The Knox Institute is the only one with special equipment 
for this work, and it is new in this field. 

The city, in providing for schools for negroes, failed to provide 
a system of education adapted to their needs, and for the last fifteen 
years the high school for negroes has been doing almost the same 
work as that of the white children. This raises the question as to 
whether or not there should be some special work done to aid the 
negro in his racial growth, instead of giving him the same work 
which is required in the white schools. 

Up to 1911 there were 306 living graduates of the negro schools 
of Athens. The following table, which was compiled with the aid 
of the principals of the four schools, gives a fair idea of the part 
the schools have played in the life of Athens and the surrounding 
country. 

TABLE XI. 
Record of Graduates, Athens Schools.^* 



Occupation. 


Public. 


Knox. 


Jeruel. 


A. Smith. 


Total. 


Pet. 


Teacher 


32 


27 


29 


2 


90 


29.4 


Home Keeper 


16 


17 


17 


1 


51 


16.7 


Trained Nurse 


5 


2 


2 




9 


2.9 


Milliner 


__ 




20 




20 


6.6 


Seamstress 


1 


__ 


1 


__ 


2 


.6 


In Business 


4 


8 


3 


1 


16 


5.2 


Printer 







7 




1 


2.3 


Lawyer 


__ 




1 




1 


.3 


Doctor 


2 


4 


4 





10 


3.2 


Farmer 


__ 


1 


11 




12 


4.0 


Preacher 


__ 


4 


16 




20 


6.6 


P. 0. and Clerks 


5 


1 


2 




8 


2.6 


Odd and Unknown 


20 


13 


25 


2 


60 


19.6 


Totals 


85 


77 


138 


6 


306 


100. 



13 Ibid. 

14 CataIog:ue Knox Institute, 1912, pp. 29-32. 

Leaflet of Jeruel Aoademy. 

Names and occupations of graduates of Anne Smith and Public Higli 
School furnished by principals. 



30 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

From the above it appears that the negroes who graduate from 
the high schools are working among their own people. i' 

There is a great field for the trained negro in the South. He 
enters freely into many avenues of employment, and there is a 
crying need for more who have received the discipline of the school. 

8. Experiments in Inrtu.strial Education. 

From the table of occupations of negro graduates it appears that, 
while most of the graduates are teachers, preachers, doctors, and 
in business, there are nevertheless a number of home-keepers and 
farmers. With these the need of domestic science and agriculture 
Is self-evident. 

With the professional class, too, there is an evident need of 
training in industrial lines, for does not the negro teacher, preacher, 
doctor, and business man have to do with a community predominate- 
ly industrial? The negro preacher who is in the country church 
should be familiar with the agricultural methods and difficulties of 
his congregation, as should the teacher and doctor whose work is 
in the rural districts. In the city they should be familiar with the 
needs and difficulties of labor, skilled and unskilled, and the proper 
ideals of domestic service. 

Tliere has been, within the last few years, a movement among 
the negro schools to introduce such work, this movement coming 
mostly from within the race. The white people of southern com- 
munities have very little interest in the work of negro schools. 

Knox Institute has in its new Carnegie Hall, a four-room first 
floor completely devoted to industrial work, two rooms for the 
boys and two for the girls. The work in carpentry, printing, sewing, 
and cooking has just been installed and its efficiency has not yet 
been tested by time. The school is, as we have said, the only one 
in the town with special equipment for industrial work. 

Jeruel Academy has, each year, a farmer's conference. This con- 
ference is twofold in purpose: First, to help the farmers by giving 
them better metliods; and second, to arouse the interest of surround- 
ing rural sections in the work of the school. 

The success of this work brings out the prime requisite for 
good work in negro schools, namely, the cooperation of the educa- 
ted whites of the community. Situated as they are in the center of 
learning of the state, within easy walking distance of two state 
colleges, the negro schools are .within calling distance of a great 
granary of learning, and yet, due to the slight acquaintance and co- 
operation between the leaders of the two races, there has in the 
past been comparatively little help given the negro schools. The 
whites are loth to offer their services, because they do not know 



15 A coinpllatioii of ix'fupiitioiis of negro college grarUintes for the Ignited 
States shows a similar teiuleiicy. ^-'ee The Coilege Bred Negro American, 
(Atl.-inta I'liiversitv I'libliratioiis. .Vtlaiita. ir»10i, p. m. 



NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 31 

how the negro would receive such an offer, and the negroes are slow 
to call on them, fearing that the whites will not be willing to come. 

A noteworthy beginning in this direction has been made by 
Principal Brown, of Jeruel Academy. Each year he calls on the 
Chancellor of the University and occasionally the Deans of Depart- 
ments of Arts and Agriculture, together with some of the professors 
in the Agricultural College, to address his farmers' conference. It 
is to be hoped that this will lead to a better acquaintance and co- 
operation between the leaders of the two races. 

He is working also with the aid of members of the faculty of 
the State College of Agriculture to get some of the United States 
Agricultural Extension work done in his school. 

The success of his conference work is indicated in his pamphlet 
called "Facts Culled from the Farmers' Conference, "i« which was 
distributed to the delegates to the 1910 conference. 

"Counties represented 8 

Towns and villages 20 

Acres owned bv members of conference 6245 

Value ■ $183,916.00 

Acres by Counties: Clarke, 1845, Madison, 847, Oconee, 871, Jack- 
son, 590, Oglethorpe, 677, Lincoln, 395, Jasper, 10, Elbert, 
represented, but no acreage." 

The principal of West Broad Street School, Professor S. C. Harris, 
is doing good work in domestic science, both with his school chil- 
dren and in an extension cooking school for the domestic servants 
of the town. His efforts to establish a model vegetable garden 
were not successful. 

Athens is not a compactly built town, but in spite of the fact 
that in some negro settlements there is ample space for gardens, it 
is the rarest thing that one finds anything beyond a ro.w or two of 
"collards" and a patch of turnip greens. A garden would help the 
family in the matter of provisions very materially, and the negroes 
of the city should be given every encouragement to economical 
living. 

With this in view, Professor Harris started his garden, assigning 
small patches to each student, and the first year's work was so 
successful that for the following year he rented 10 acres of land, 
bought a horse and some tools, and received from the Board of 
Education an appropriation to employ an agricultural graduate from 
Tuskegee to take charge of the work. 

With this new garden things went .well until summer vacation 
came. The boys then stopped working the patch, and during the 
principal's vacation the teacher became discouraged and stopped 
work, taking a place in the post office. The garden was over-run by 
weeds, and the crop which was to pay for the tools and horse was 

ic Leaflet .Teniel Acartom.v, 1!>10. 



32 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

not forthcoming. Consequently when the principal returned the 
tools and horse had to be sold and the garden abandoned. 

Growing out of this first experiment in gardening, however, is 
the cooking school now attached to West Broad Street school. The 
kitchen equipment was given to the school by a philanthropist ,who 
noticed the garden work above mentioned at the stage when success 
seemed assured. 

Classes are held daily for the pupils of the school, and once every 
year an extension cooking school is held. An afternoon is selected 
for this work so that the cooks of the town can come, and post 
cards are sent to the house keepers asking their cooperation in this 
work for the betterment of domestic service. 

These experiments are chiefly valuable as indicating that both 
races are awakening to the necessity of cultivating a cooperative 
spirit; and as affording instances where such cooperation is being 
actually practised. 



NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 33 

CHAPTER V.i 

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS. 

1, Church and Lodge the Centres of Negro Life. 

The church and the lodge furnish most of the social life of the 
negroes of Athens. There is a theatre which occasionally gives 
vaudeville performances, and a few dance halls, but outside of 
these there is no innocent recreation open to negroes. 

It is hard to say which is the more popular, the church or the 
lodge. The church is the older institution, and has accumulated 
much property. The lodges have grown very rapidly within the last 
few years, and now number 29, while there are only 12 negro 
churches in the city. 

These are the only two institutions wholly in the hands of the 
negroes which have as their aim the uplift of the race. As such, 
there is some jealousy between the church and the lodge. Many 
preachers belie\e that a negro will give up his church for his 
loige, and, in fact, a number of negroes have expressed such a 
preference. One church, the Holy Rollers, has a by-law prohibiting 
its members from joining lodges. 

There is a field, however, for both of these organizations. The 
charch bases its appeal on the strong religious emotion of the 
negro. The secrecy and ritualistic side of the lodge attract the 
negro, and added to this are the benefits received from the mutual 
insurance feature of the lodge. 

2. The Churches. 

All of the negro churches in Athens are well constructed frame 
buildings. The one exception to this rule is the First Baptist 
church, which is a brick edifice. Most of them have a small 
steeple and colored glass windows. The majority are painted. 

The twelve churches in Athens are distributed among the several 
denominations as follows: 

Baptist _______---5 

Methodist _______--4 

Congregational ______ 1 

Episcopal _______-_! 

"Sanctified" ______-! 

The discouraging feature of organized work among negroes is the 
peity jealousy which arises. The principals of three of the schools 
in Athens are not on speaking terms, and each is ready to belittle 
the work of the others. The lodges get along fairly well, but every 
now and then there is an internal rupture which splits a lodge, 

1 The original plan of the work inoliulefl a more comprehensive chapter on 
these organizations, bnt the qnestiounaires sent out to the preachers and lodge 
leaders were so tardily answered that this chapter had to be cut to a minimum 
on account of the absence of the data which could be gotten by no other means 
than the (juestionnaires. 



34 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

one half going off into another part of town and forming a new 
organization. The churches, too, have their share of such dissen- 
sion. The Methodists have split into four divisions, namely, the 
African Methodist Episcopal, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion, 
the Colored Methodist Episcopal, and the Methodist Episcopal, 
commonly known by the following initials: A. M. E., A. M. E. Z., 
C. M. E., and M. E. The Baptists have not been so prone to split 
into factions, though occasionally one of their churches divides into 
two congregations. There has lately been quite an exodus from 
both Methodist and Baptist churches into the Holy Rollers, or 
Sanctified Church, which has not long been established in the town. 

The church buildings average $3,000 in value, and were reported 
as free of debt. The preachers are paid from $25.00 to $40.00 per 
month. 

In matters of finance negro churches are remarkable. The 
"table method" of collection is used, the giver walking up in front 
of the congregation and depositing his money on a table. This is 
an efficient method of money raising, taking advantage as it does 
of the negro's love of display. 

The negro preachers are liberally endowed with powerful voices 
and a great native ability for the expression of feeling through 
rhythmical gestures and utterances. The success of the sermon is 
measured by the extent to which the preacher arouses the religious 
emotion of his congregation. The .whole congregation takes part in 
the service at climactic emotional points with shouts of "Amen."' 
"Ha" Mussy," "Yes, Lord," and other approving phrases. 

The readiness of the negro to respond to his emotions, and 
especially to his religious feeling, is one of his most widely known 
characteristics. Swayed by religion, the negro expresses himself in 
various forms. The most common outlet is in songs of a wierd 
metre which are only heard in negro churches. Chanted prayers, 
responses by the congregation to the pastor's exhortation, and 
shouting, are other outlets for this feeling, from which the negro 

seems to get great satisfaction. 

It is not until his emotions reach their full development that the 
negro "gets religion." There are practically no members of the 
negro churches of Athens under 16 or 17 years of age. They do 
not feel the full sway of this feeling until the age of puberty, and 
consequently do not join the church earlier. At this time, to use 
the negro's characteristic language, he "comes through." This pro- 
cess of "coming through" generally starts at a revival where the 
atmosphere is tense with fervid excitement. The young candidate 
is thoroughly wrought up through the physiological effects of the 
repeated rhythm. He is then called up to the mourners' bench. 
The trip to the bench is sometimes preceded by a series of s-houts or 
a fainting spell. There is generally a period of a month or two 
between the mourners' bench and baptism. During this period' 



NEGROES OP ATHENS, GA. 3 5 

religion is dominant in the mind of the negro. The investigator 
was informed in several instances by housekeepers that their cook 
was "getting religion" and that she had a prayer meeting between 
waffles and a song service over the biscuits. 

Should the pastors reach the children earlier and the parents 
place more restraint upon them instead of awaiting the physiological 
development into maturity, the personnel of the church membership 
would doubtless be better. 

3. The Lodges. 
Almost without the knowledge of the white man, a vast net 
work of lodges has spread all through the negro race in the last 
few years.- These lodges combine a secret ritualistic feature with 
a mutual insurance company. In this way they have both a social 
and business side. 

The social side of these meetings, their pompous funerals, their 
mystical names, and the lure of the secret ritual draw negroes into 
the lodges, and the inc^urance feature keeps them paying their 
dues with fair regularity. In this way the two features of the 
lodges have combined and made the lodge one of the most striking 
and important features of negro life. 

It is only within the last two decades that the lodges have be- 
come s^'o popular. Their phenomenal growth started when the 
insurance feature was added some years ago. The reports of the 
lodges show that while a few have been in Athens for over twenty- 
five years, the majority were established within the last five or 
ten years. 

The present number of lodges is 29, representing 8 orders, viz., 
The Good Samaritans, Odd Fello.ws, Masons, Knights of Pythias 
(Court of Calanthe affiliated with Knights of Pythias, and House- 
hold of Ruth with the Odd Fellows), Gospel Pilgrims, Ancient 
Knights, Independent Benevolent Order, and Magnolias. All of 
these orders but the last two have more than one lodge in the city, 
and the Good Samaritans lead the list with seven lodges. 

The membership in the fifteen"^ whose membership could be 
accurately ascertained was 1412. The estimated membership of 
the whole 29 is 2500, or about 75 per cent, of the adult population 
of the town. 

The insurance given by these lodges is no little protection against 
the misfortunes of the poorer classes. In times past it was cus- 
tomary for the employer to help a family out in case of sickness 
or death in the family. Now this matter is a function of the lodges. 
The. lodges pay from $2.50 to $5.00 per week when a member is 
sick, many of them having a sick committee for visiting their mem- 
bers. The amount allowed for burial of members ranges from 

2 Nine out of fifteen reporting date of organization were founded since 1890. 
six since 1000. 

sOulv out of 2!) answered (luestiunnaires. Six others reported nieniborsliip. 



36 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

$30.00 to $75.00, and in addition, a life insurance policy paying 
from $100.00 to $350,004 jg covered by the dues paid the society. 

Aside from the financial benefits of the lodge in the event of 
death, the society "turns out" in full regalia at the funeral of a 
member, and it is no slight comfort to the bereaved family if the 
funeral is a "big one." 

The insurance feature and incidental expenses of the lodge are 
run by the monthly duet, and taxes. The dues vary from fifty 
cents per month to a dollar and a half, fifty cents being the most 
general charge. This is a very low premium, and even if doubled, 
as it sometimes is, by taxes and fines, it is still a good investment 
for the negro who keeps his dues paid up and receives the sick 
benefits. There is practically no complaint among the negroes of 
Athens as to the non-payment of death claims. 

As close an estimate as is possible from the data in hand shows 
that in 1912 about $3,500 were collected by the lodges. 

The societies are enabled to run on this small income because 
there are many lapses, and the money which has been deposited in 
the treasury by a member who becomes "unfinancial" is clear gain 
to the lodge, and, should he after a lapse desire to regain member- 
ship in full standing, a renewal fee is charged. A negro lodge has 
small chance to go into bankruptcy, for if the treasury gets low 
an extra tax of from twenty-five cents to one dollar per member is 
levied and the money is always forthcoming. 

Sometimes a negro who is a "joiner" will enroll himself in seven 
or eight of these lodges, paying out from $3.00 to $4.00 per month 
in dues. In this case, of course, the lodge spirit is carried to excess 
and becomes an extravagance"^ but the enjoyment derived from 
membership in so many organizations is considered worth the 
price, and, in so far as it keeps the money out of the hands of 
"wild-cat" insurance companies, it is so much saved. 

Some agents of insurance companies are most adept at per- 
suading negroes to take policies. There are ten or fifteen agents 
in Athens who do nothing but solicit insurance and collect the 
premiums thereon. When the negro's insurance is written, many 
tricks are practiced to defraud the ignorant policy holder. 

In addition to providing substantial benefits and centres for 
diversion, the lodges have great possibilities for social service among 
the negroes. Some lodges now have what they call an "instructed" 
meeting once a year, at which a hired lecturer talks. If this meet- 
ini? were devoted to sanitation and civic subjects on a simple scale, 
and the program gradually broadened, the lodge would become an 
important factor in uplifting the negro. 

■» .$100.00 is the usuitl anioiiiit of policy. The Knights of Pythias nay $350: 
tl)e Odd Fellows. .^I^OO. 

5 These poluies are usually kept in an envelope and huns in a prominent 
place. The investigator saw several houses with more than ten envelopes hang- 
ing on tlie door. 



NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 37 

CHAPTER VI. 
OCCUPATIONS. 

1. Diversiflcatioii of Negro Labor Since Emancipation. 

Athens before the War was a sleepy little Southern town, and 
its activities were those of a residential and educational centre. 
The bulk of the negro population was, therefore, engaged in domes- 
tic service. There were, however, trained slaves and a few free 
negroes who were engaged in mechanical and skilled labor, such as 
carpentry, bricklaying, shoemaking, and the like. The presence of 
the trained negro prevented the growth of a white artisan class. 
Practically the entire white population was interested in agriculture, 
or were in professions or merchandising. For many years after 
emancipation the whites were slow to enter employment which 
traditionally had been confined to negroes. In this way the negroes 
came to monopolize the artisan trades; in time a large class of 
negro shopkeepers, barbers, restaurateurs, carpenters, masons, 
and blacksmiths sprang up; while, on the other hand, domestic 
service, as a reminder of their former dependant state, fell into 
disrepute, and all who were trained in slavery, or could get the 
backing of their former masters, went into the skilled trades or into 
small business ventures. 

2. White Competition Follows Industrial Revolution. 

During the past twenty years, however, the South has been under- 
going a second industrial revolution. It has taken the form of a 
rapid growth of manufacturing and commercial enterprises and a 
consequent shifting of population, especially of whites, from rural 
to urban communities. 

Athens has partaken in the fullest measure of this development. 
The trades connected with building have proved very attractive, 
wages have been high and considerable profits were to be made 
from all the various activities so long regarded as negro employ- 
ments. The influx from rural communities brought to town an ele- 
ment of white men who were quick to take advantage of the chang- 
ing conditions. They have entered into competition with the negro 
and are tending to force him into the background. Nearly all the 
carpenters and plumbers at present are white men. Negro plasterers 
are still holding their own, though the number of whites in this 
trade is increasing; Greeks have superseded negroes as waiters in 
some restaurants. 

The change which has taken place in the last five years in the 
pressing clubs illustrates the manner in which white competition 
affects the negro. Five years ago the pressing clubs of the town 
were owned and operated by negroes, who sometimes hired assist- 
ants. White capital has, however, introduced better irons, more 
responsibility, and delivery wagons, and now there is only one press- 



38 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

ing club owned by a negro, and it receives most of its revenue 
through tailoring done by its owner. There are five or six large 
pressing clubs owned and supervised by white men, the actual labor 
being done by negroes. Thus they have been driven downward in 
the same line of work from owners to hired helpers. 

A similar change has taken place in the barber shops. Ten years 
ago there was only one small barber shop of four or five chairs 
operated by whites. The great majority of the people of the town 
were accustomed to patronizing old colored barbers who had been 
at their stands for years, and who were the friends of most of their 
customers. The capital of the one white barber shop was, however, 
judiciously handled. Better chairs and equipment were purchased 
and a better location was secured. The success of this venture 
attracted other white bai-bers and as a result there are now six 
large white barber shops with thirty-two chairs, while only two of 
the original negro shops, with three chairs apiece, receive white 
patronage. One of the white barber shops has more chairs than 
the two negro shops combined. The other negroes who were in the 
barbering business have either sought some other employment or 
opened up shops in the negro settlements, catering to negro trade. 

One can readily see by looking at the shops that it was not pre- 
judice against the negro in these lines which drove him from the 
field. It was inability to compete successfully. The negro shops 
still have plush chairs and untempting stands, while the lure which 
has taken their customers from them lies in the tile floors, electric 
fans, and sanitary chairs of their competitors. 

3. Number in Gainful Occupations. 

The percentage of negroes over 18 years of age in gainful occupa- 
tions is as follows: 





TABLE XII. 




Sex 

Female 

Male 


Employed 
1072 
937 


Unemployed 
384 
125 


Per cent. Employed. 
73. 

88. 


Total over 18 


2009 


509 


79. 



In addition to these there are engaged in gainful occupations 
164 persons under eighteen years of age, making a grand total of 
2173 colored persons in gainful occupations. 

This summary of the distribution of negroes in occupations by sex 
and age brings out the fact that there are more negro women at 
work in Athens than men. This is due partly to the fact that there 
are 622 more women than men enumerated by the 1910 census, and 
partly to the fact that there is a large field for domestic service 
open to the negro women of the city. 

According to sex, those under 18 in gainful occupations are divid- 



NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 



39 



ed as follows: male 100, female 64. The males are mostly delivery 
boys, some few are butlers and boys about the premises, while others 
go into the fertilizer factories before 18. The females are nurses 
and house-maids and washerwomen. 

The bulk of the negro breadwinners are divided between domestic 
service and common labor, with a few in the professions and busi- 
nesses. The following list of occupations compiled from the schedule 
gives the details in this connection. 



TABLE XIII. 

Distribution of Negroes by Occupations. 

Professions and Business: 

Preacher 13 

Doctor 5 

Teacher 28 

In Business 62 



Total 

Clerical Work: 

Stenographer 
Bookkeeper 
Post Office 
Insurance 



3 
2 
6 

7 



108, 5 per cent, of grand total. 



Total, 
Skilled Trades: 

Baker 

Barber 

Blacksmith 

Bottler 

Butcher 

Carpenter 

Chauffeur 

Fireman 

Glazier 

Masons 

Painter 

Plasterer 

Plumber 

Seamstress 

Trained Nurse 

Tailor 

Upholsterer 

Total 

Domestic and Hotel Service: 
Cook 

Maid 

Manservant 
Janitor 
Washerwoman 



1 per cent, of grand total. 



D 

15 

7 

3 

2 

15 

3 

8 

5 

14 

12 

29 

9 

40 

5 

8 

1 



172 

153 

94 

46 

637 



181, 8 per cent, of grand total. 



Total 



1102, 51 per cent, of grand total. 



40 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, 



Unskilled Labor: 

Cotton Mill Hands 67 

Fertilizer Hands 106 

Ice Plant Hands 17 

Lumber Yard Hands 21 

Bartender 4 
City Employees and Odd 

Jobs, Ditchers, etc., 199 

Cotton Warehouses 18 

Drivers and Porters 182 

Farm Laborers 40 

Gardeners 3 

Hod Carriers 8 

Pool Room 2 

Pressing Clubs 18 

Railroad Gangs 88 

Watchmen 3 



Total 764, 35 per cent, of grand total. 

4. Observations on the Several Groups of Occupations. 
The Professional Element. 

The work and salaries of the preachers and teachers has been 
more fully discussed in the chapters on Schools and Social and Relig- 
ious organizations. All negroes in professions occupy a high position 
in the negro community The negro preacher is possibly the most in- 
fluential. The negro doctors of Athens meet with some little preju- 
dice and suspicion among the masses of the negroes, and yet they are 
doing very well, receiving a good percentage of the negro practice 
of the town. There is also a negro drug store run by a negro 
pharmacist, which receives good patronage. 

The Entrepreneurs. 

There are 62 of the entrepreneurial class in Athens, constituting 
3 per cent, of the total number in gainful occupations. They are, 
for the most part, grocers, restaurateurs, dray or hack owners. 

A typical grocery store is located on Broad street in the largest 
negro settlement of the town. The proprietor owns the store build- 
ing and fixtures. He does from $75 to $100 worth of business a 
week, supplying the neighboring houses with flour, side-meat, meal, 
sugar, and a small amount of canned goods, starch, and soap. On 
account of the trade catered to the stock is composed almost alto- 
gether of staple goods. The 1125 people who live in this settlement 
are supplied by 13 small stores. Three of these grocery stores 
have a meat shop attached. Two are run by white men, and eleven 
by negroes. There is some prejudice against negroes here also. 
The masses of their people are accustomed to trading with the 
whites, or are employed b-" white men who direct their trade to cer- 
tain stores; and yet all of these stores seem to be doing fairly well. 



NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 41 

The Artisans. 

4 larger class of negro wage earners, constituting eight per cent, 
of the total number in gainful occupations, are those engaged in the 
skilled trades. Quite a range of occupations are represented here, 
although there are comparatively few in each occupation. 

As was pointed out, there is an increasing pressure of white com- 
petition in these trades, but due to the fact that negroes have always 
been more or less engaged in such trades in Georgia, there is com- 
paratively little prejudice against them.i Trades unionism has not 
yet had time to affect these trades, as unions were not organized 
in Athens until the present year. None of the local unions admit 
negroes. 

No attempt was made to ascertain where these negroes learned their 
trade, but as there are no trade schools in the territory from which 
the population of Athens was drawn, it is probable that in most 
instances the trade was learned through apprenticeship. A few 
apprentices to the skilled trades were found, — one baker, one mason, 
two plasterers, and one plumber. 

The Laborers. 

Ihe 764 laborers may be divided roughly into two classes. First, 
those who show some degree of skill, such as factory operatives; 
and, second, those doing odd jobs, ditchers, draymen, warehousemen, 
and agricultural laborers. There are 201 in the former class, and 
564 in the latter. 

In factories where skill is required, the hands are generally 
whites, the heavier mill work in the fertilizer factories, batting 
mills, and compresses falling to the negroes. For this reason they 
are classed as unskilled laborers. 

The ditchers, drivers, and factory hands have for the most part 
irregular employment. None reported employment for more than 
nine months of the year. With those who are working on excava- 
tions and streets, employment stops on rainy days. The factories, 
of course, take 'on and lay off hands according to the season. 

All of these laborers look on themselves as doing "public work." 
That is to say, they shift their employment as the public demands. 
Many of this class work only when they cannot see where the next 
meal is coming from. This means that in many instances some 
other member of the family besides the father has to seek some 
steady source of income, such as washing or domestic service. The 
majority of this group are of the most shiftless class. 



1 Stone, op. oit., p. 166, "Here is wbere the negro profits by tlie drawing of 
the general Southern color line. The white mason and carpenter work side by 
side with the negro because they know that that line exists for them just 
exactly as it does for the lawyer or doctor. The negro recognizes that the 
white man *is not lowered one particle in the estimation of the community be- 
cause of his occupation. Each knows that the status of the other remains 
unchanged." 



42 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

Domestic Sei-vice. 

The numerical preponderance of domestic service is due to the 
inclusion under this category of hotel servants and washerwomen 
in addition to household servants. Washerwomen, 637 in number, 
constitute the largest group in any single occupation. The custom 
of letting the wash in Athens allows the washerwoman to take the 
clothes home and work on them all the week. In this way she earns 
from one to five dollars a week, and, at the same time, can stay 
at home with her children. There is, too, an abnormally large de- 
mand for washerwomen in Athens, by reason of the fact that there 
are some 2,000 students in attendance on institutions of learning, 
each one paying on the average $1.25 per month for washing. 

In view of the importance of domestic service, the next chapter 
is devoted <o that rubjert. 



< 



NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 43 

CHAPTER Vn. 

DOMESTIC SERVICE. 

1. The Closest Point of Contact Between the Races is in 

Domestic Sei-iice. 

Omitting the hotel servants, washerwomen, and janitors, there 
are about 350 domestic servants working for families in Athens, 
representing 16 per cent, of the negroes in gainful occupations, and 
33 per cent, of the females in gainful occupations. 

From the standpoint of the Southern white man, domestic service 
is one of the most important and engrossing of the negro problems. 
Dr. W. D. Weatherford, in a recent study, has aptly brought out the 
significance of domestic service :i "Whether we sit down to dinner 
in our homes or in a hotel, it is a vital question which cannot be 
lightly passed over, — under what sanitary conditions does the negro 
who cooked this meal and the negro who served it live." 

The broadest and most intimate point of contact between the races 
in the South is through domestic service, and the attitude of the 
servant to the housewife, and the housewife to the servant has 
much to do with the attitude of the races in general. The following 
summary of the situation shows the domestic troubles of the South- 
ern housekeeper:- "Employers, on the other hand, find an increas- 
ing number of careless and impudent young people who neglect their 
work, and in some cases demoralize the children or the family. They 
pay low wages partly because the Southern custom compels families 
who ought to do their own work to hire help, and they cannot afford 
to pay much; partly because they do not believe the service rendered 
is worth more. The servants, receiving less than they think they 
ought, are often careful to render as little as possible for it." 

2. Changed Status of Domestic Service. 

The number of inefficient servants is increasing, because domestic 
service no longer occupies the place which it did in the estimation 
of the negro. In fifty years domestic service has been lowered from 
the highest place in the negro's estimation to the lowest. On the 
plantation there were the field hands and the domestics; the latter 
being picked men and women, the most intelligent negroes on the 
place, and in most cases mulattoes." Now, however, that generation 
of whites which cherished domestic servants as the most intelligent 
and trusted negroes on the place and gave them the most honored 

1 W. D. Weatberforil. Negro Life in the South, (Xashville, 1910, p. 8). 

2W. E. B. Dubois. The Negroes of I'arniville, Va., p. 14. (Bulletin U. S. 
Dept. of Labor). 

3 Principal S. C. Harris, of the West Broad Street School, who has an 
intimate knowled^^e of the nesroes of Athens, states that the descendants of 
the ante-bellum domestics stand highest in the community. 



44 UNIVERSITY OP GEORGIA. 

position in the "big laouse," looking on tliem as trusted friends, 
has passed away, to be replaced by a generation which does not 
comprehend the paternal relation which existed between master and 
servant before the war. Among the negroes, that generation which 
looked upon domestic service as a responsible and meritorious posi- 
tion has in its turn been replaced by a generation which is entering 
more and more into the commercial, industrial and professional fields. 

The emancipation of the slaves broke down the artificial system 
of selecting domestic servants. Newer and more desired fields of 
employment were opened to the negro, fields into which the more 
efficient strove to go. This set the process of selection in motion. 
The best, most reliable, and competent went into the professions 
and the skilled trades, leaving the backward and unprogressive class 
to serve as domestics. It is the incompetence of this backward class 
who come most closely into contact with the whites that gives the 
Southerner the idea that the negro has made and can make little 
progress. 

In addition to this change in attitude towards domestic service, 
another social change working among the negroes takes many of 
the best domestics out of service, namely, the development of home 
life. Possibly there is no severer test of the character of a race 
than the maintenance of a decent family life, in which the entire 
time of the woman is devoted to the duties of wife and mother. The 
increase in the number of such homes is most encouraging to those 
who desire the uplift of the negro race. But as the best negro 
women become home-makers the quality of domestic servants de- 
clines. 

3. Questionnaire Sent to Housekeepers. 

All of these forces combine to make the position of the Southern 
housekeeper, who is compelled to work with this labor, most un- 
enviable. An effort was made to obtain an authoritative expression 
of opinion on the subject of domestic service by sending to all house- 
keepers a detailed questionnaire.* The mailing list included all who 
were thought to have servants in their employ. 

In addition to the regular questions, a space was left for "re- 
marks," in which many interesting statements were made. The 
housekeepers who made remarks had apparently thought so con- 
stantly and feelingly on the subject that their testimony is deemed 
of sufficient interest to be published in full.-^ 

Washerwomen were included in this questionnaire only as far 
as concerned their wages. Under the system in vogue, one washer- 
woman generally does the laundry of from two to six families, 
carrying the clothes home Monday and keeping them until Saturday. 



4 See Appendix B. 

5 See Appendix D. 



NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 45 

Thei'efore, in order to save duplications, washerwomen were omit- 
ted. 

An effort was made to reach every family employing a servant in 
Athens. Three hundred and ten letters were sent out and 143 
replies received. The servants reported on were 255 in number 
(175 females and 80 males). This number represented 72 per cent, 
of the total number of negro domestics, not including washerwomen. 

The negroes are less and less willing to perform the duties of 
two servants for small families. The only common combinations 
are those of butler and driver, and nurse and maid. In a few instan- 
ces a single servant performs the duties of cook and chambermaid, 
bw*- these are becoming rare. The washing is always done by a 
separate servant. It therefore appears that the service rendered 
by the negro servants is by no means as much as that rendered by 
the average northern white servant. This fact explains to an extent 
the low scale of wages that prevails throughout the South for 
domestic service. 

By far the most interesting and peculiar feature of the servant 
problem in the South is the practice of hiring without a shred of 
reference. A few housekeepers get a sort of recommendation in 
the following manner: They obtain from the applicant the name 
of a recent employer and ask on the phone a few questions as to 
honesty and regularity, and usually hire the servant without refer- 
ence to her knowledge of cooking and trust to chance for the rest. 

In almost any other country a servant without references would 
have small chance of employment. In the South, however, so great 
is the disinclination of negroes to go into domestic service, that 
housekeepers are glad to get any negro who will stay in the kitchen 
and relieve them of the heavy work which is necessary in keeping 
the style of houses generally built in the South. 

Some housekeepers will, when asked about a servant, give a 
recommendation, when in reality the servant had been unsatis- 
factory. This is done to keep from having a "bad name" among 
the negroes, for the negro women in their social meetings are given 
to comparing notes as to the desirability of work in various families. 
Almost any negro in domestic service in Athens can tell which house- 
keepers are "finicky," or hard to please." In fact, so widely known 
are the methods of individual housekeepers, and so strange to the 
whites is the inner life of the darker half of the population, that 
it is believed by some that a blacklist is kept by the negro lodges, 
and that the servants keep "tabs" in this way on their employers. 
Inquiry, however, failed to reveal any indication that such was 
the case in Athens. 

With these facts in mind, it is not strange that only 35 out of 



6 Of course those who are "finicky" from the servant's viewpoint :ire the 
careful, economical housekeepers. 



46 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

the 105 housekeepers reporting on this question ask for references, 
and 11 of these ask only as to the servant's honesty.' The result of 
this method of hiring, forced upon the housekeepers by the scarcity 
of good servants and the inconvenience of the Southern houses, is 
that domestic service is thoroughly disorganized and unsatisfactory. 
In many cases incompetence is winked at by the housekeepers 
for the simple reason that they cannot afford to lose their servant 
at any cost. 

Another source of worry to the housekeeper is that servants quit 
frequently without notice and go into other avenues of employment 
for short times. The average negro likes a short-time job. The 
pay for such odd jobs is generally a little higher per day, and the 
employe can make enough money in this time to live for a month 
or so after the job runs out. This is especially true in cotton pick- 
ing time. There is a great demand for cotton pickers in the belt of 
counties surrounding Athens, and numbers of servants leave in the 
late summer and early fall to go to the country. For this work they 
are paid by the hundred pounds picked. If they prefer they may 
work slowly, practically taking a vacation, and still make enough to 
live on. If they work well, they can make enough to rest in ease 
for a time after they return to the city.^ 

Still another feature of negro service objected to by some house- 
keepers, but taken philosophically by others as a result of custom, 
is the "service basket" or pan. This carrying off of broken victuals, 
which is in a majority of cases stretched into the carrying off of 
small amounts of supplies from the pantry, is known among the 
servants as "toting," and is almost universally practiced among the 
domestics of the South. 

One housekeeper said that the last servant who applied to her 
for a position stated that her usual wages were $10.00 per month 
when she "toted," and $12.00 when she did not. Another house- 
keeper answered the questionnaire with a note that, having recently 
moved to Athens, she had not employed a servant. She stated that 
she was afraid of the cost of this item of food carried off. In her 
ch.iracteristic, though exaggerated phrasing, she voiced the senti- 
ment expressed by many when she remarked, "None employed. 
I found that the Service Basket feature in Athens is a serious matter. 
Have never seen a town like it. Just note the heavy laden cooks 
going home in the evening. If a negro man or boy emerged from 
the rear of a store with a pair of cheap shoes under his coat, the 
officers would chase him all over the country and finally send him 
to the chaingang. Every day the negro women, often reinforced 



7 The majority of those not reporting as to the results from asking refer- 
ences are housekeepers who have had the same servant for years and have had 
little experience hi hiring servants. 

8 The housekeepers answering as to season in which it is most difficult to 
obtain a servant almost unanimously answered "Cotton-picking time." 



A 



NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 47 

by the entire family, carry away from Athens homes supplies of 
groceries many times the value of the pair of shoes. They do it 
openly, boldly, in fact consider it one of the perquisites of tlieir 
employment." 

Of the 138 housekeepers reporting as to service basket, 52 re- 
ported tliat they did not allow the practice, 15 of these qualifying 
their answer by such phrase as "Not to my knowledge." The 
other 86 answered "yes." About half of these were not content 
with the simple affirmation, but answered with such phrases as 
"certainly," "always and forever," or "tliree big ones each day." 
Such answers would indicate that this is a thorn in the flesh, but 
one not easily removed. 

The question of honesty is closely related to tlie service basket 
in the mind of the liousekeeper. The general opinion among the 
housekeepers seemed to be that servants are lionest except where 
food is concerned. The negroes themselves regard food in tlieir 
employer's house as theirs and take it without feeling that they 
are committing a theft. Of the 4 housekeepers who did not abso- 
lutely alfirm their servant's honesty, only eight actually denied it. 
The others qualified their answers with phrases such as "fairly," 
and "except with food." 

. Of course, with the low grade of service rendere d by the domestics 
^TOf the South, a low wage rate nre vails. The actual money wages of 
the several classes of domestics are as follows: 

TABLE XIV. 
Wages per Week. Cooks. Maids. Manservt. Nurse. '^ Special Serv't. 



$1 to $2 


3 


2 


2 




16 


$2 to $3 


84 


35 


4 


3 


1 


$3 to $4 


34 


1 


17 


3 


2 


?■! to $5 


6 




10 






Over $5 


4 


1 


19 


1 


3 



Total 131 39 52 7 22 

Average Wages $2.72 $2.34 $3.80 $3.00 $3.05 

The wages of butlers and special servants run higher than the 
rest because these branches of domestic service are filled almost 
altogether by men. The "specials" are in some instances men-of- 
all-work, but in most cases they are old men who do a little garden- 
ing and cleaning up around the place. They are kept because of 
their long attachment to the family. Only seven families report a 
servant whose duty is exclusively that of nurse, the average wages 
being $3.00. The most common price for cooks is $2.50, and the 
most common prices for maids are $2.00 and $2.2 5. 

The cooks may be divided into two classes, according as they 
cook two or three meals a day. Forty of the 131 cooks reported on 



9 The number of nurses reported Is clearly too small. This is doubtless due 
to the fact that in many instances the office of maid and nurse is combined. 



48 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

prepare only two meals a day, getting off between three and four 
o'clock for the day. Servants are coming to demand, more and more, 
that they be released for the afternoon. They do not, however, 
seem to be willing to give any better service, or suffer any reduction 
in wages for this reduction of hours. »,| 

The maids and butlers are, as a rule, employed for the whole day. * 

Cooks and maids who stay for supper, however, generally have * 

from an hour and a half to two hours and a half off in the afternoon. 

The average wage of cooks is not all that the housekeeper 
has to pay for the luxury of a servant. The service basket 
feature spoken of above, and the waste of food, due to ignorance j 

of economy in cooking, make the real cost of a servant very high. \ 

With the low class of negroes who go into domestic service it is 
very difficult to control the measure of the ingredients of foods, and 
the time consumed in their preparation. The limited education 
which they have gives them little idea of measurement, and hence 
much is lost to the housekeeper by the unscientific mixing of food 
stuffs. A small majority of careful housekeepers keep the keys of 
their pantry and measure the flour, sugar, milk, etc., but this is 
not always convenient, and, too, these are the housekeepers who 
get the name of "finicky" among the servants, and have a hard 
time hiring a cook. Consequently the preparation of meals is 
generally left to the servant, and the best of them are careless in 
this respect. 

A second large item of waste in housekeeping is in fuel. The 
servants are accustomed to cooking on a large wood range, and 
have little idea as to regulating fires. These ranges fairly eat up 
wood, and the waste is great, and yet the servants object to using 
anything else. Even if one can be persuaded to change to a gas 
stove, the waste is still great. The negroes seem to have little ex- 
ecutive ability, not even enough to cook a meal so that the shortest 
time, and hence the least gas, will be consumed. 

A typical estimate of the cost of a cook received from one of the 
housekeepers is as follows: 

"Yearly Cost of Servant. 

Wages -$130.00 

Food eaten 75.00 

Food taken ______ 75.00 

Food wasted _____ 12.00 

Fuel and lights wasted 16.00 

Total $300.00" 

An idea of the real cost of cooks may be obtained from the report 
of 63 housekeepers. The estimates ran from $9.00 a week with 
housekeepers who do not supervise their servants closely to $2.50 a 
week with housekeepers who hire a cook at $2.00 and supervise 
the kitchen closely. The average estimate was $5.30. This amount 
is almost double the average wages of cooks ($2.72). Other 



NEGROES OP ATHENS, GA. 49 

housekeepers who did not give exact estimates of the real cost of 
a cook gave sucli answers as, "Could save $30.00 a month," or 
$300.00 a year," or "almost double wages," or "half the wages." 

Such incompetence illustrated most strikingly in domestic service 
is doubtless the reason why there are so many people in the South 
who question the fact of negro progress, and believe education for 
them to be a waste of time. The study of the schools of Athens 
revealed, however, that it has only been within the last few years 
that anything has been done to better domestic service through a 
course of study. It is possible that with efficient training in domes- 
tic service, a better class of negroes will go into service. At any 
rate, the housekeepero who have this problem constantly before 
them realize the need for better training in some way along the 
lines of accuracy and economy in the preparation of food. 



50 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

CHAPTER VIII. 
FAMILY ECONOMICS. 

1. Expeiiditui'es of Negi-o Families. 

One hundred and eighty-four budgets of representative negro 
families were obtained. The incomes were estimated both • from 
information given by negroes during the house to house canvass 
made by the writer and from reports obtained from many firms in 
town that employ negro labor. The budgets actually used were 
culled from some 350 which we.-e begun but many of which had to 
be abandoned on account of the unsatisfactory nature of the replies 
made to questions. These budgets can make little pretense to 
exactness, since few negroes keep accounts showing their receipts 
and disbursements. 

A composite budget of the 184 families gives the following result: 

TABLE XV. 

Expenditiu'es of 184 Families of Athens Negroes. 

Average per Percentage of total 
family. outlay. 

142.92 29. 

38.73 08. 

26.10 05. 

27.04 05. 

16.34 03. 

248.51 50^ 

Income 91,930.00 499.62 100. 

2. Application of Engel's Law. 
A German economist. Dr. Ernst Engel, has made an interesting 
study of the way in which Saxon laborers spend their wages. i His 
results showed that 

As the income of a family increases: 

a. The percentage of expenditure for food decreases; 

b. The percentage of expenditure for clothing remains prac- 
tically the same; 

c. The percentage of expenditure for rent, fuel, and lights is 
invariable; 

d. The percentage of expenditure for education, health, recrea- 
tion, etc., increases. 

An interesting contrast is afforded by comparing the percentages 
in the third column of the table of expenditures of Athens negroes 
with the results obtained by Engel for the German laborers: 



Item. 


Money 




Spent. 


Food 


$26,291.00 


Clothing 


7,127.00 


Lodging 


4,802.90 


Fuel and Lights 


4,975.85 


Insurance 


3,007.10 


Incidentals 


45,726.15 



1 Ely, Outlines of Economics, p. 119. 



NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 



51 



TABLE XVI.2 



Item 



Expenditure of 
Athens Negroes. 



Expenditure of Expenditure Saxon 
Saxon Laborer. Laborer. Income. 
Income $225-$300 $450-$600. 



Food 


29 per 


cent. 


62 per 


cent. 


55 per cent. 


Clothing- 


8 " 


t ( 


16 " 


a 


18 " " 


Lodging 


5 " 


if 


12 " 


it 


12 " " 


Fuel 


5 " 


a 


5 " 


it 


5 " " 


Miscellaneous 


53 " 


a 


5 " 


i t 


10 " " 



This table indicates a profound difference in the conditions of 
life among negroes and German laborers. The negro's standard of 
life is so low that he is able to spend the bulk of his earnings not 
on the necessities of life, but on pleasure and recreation. Food 
from the white man's kitchen, second-hand clothes bought for a 
tithe of their value, and inexpensive lodging, leave him a large 
margin for other purposes; whereas the German laborer is forced to 
spend the bulk of his wages for food. 

An attempt has been made to work out a table showing the 
changes in the percentages of expenditures of negroes for the 
several classes of needs as the wage rises. In this table are in- 
cluded for purposes of comparison the expenditures of negroes of 
Kansas City"' and of white laborers in New York City* of similar 
income: 



2 Ibid. 

SMartiu, A. E., The Negro of Kansas City, Missouri, (Kansas City, 1912), 
p. 6:^. 

i The flgures for families In New Yorli were talsen from Ely, Outlines of 
Economics, p. 119. This table was compiled from the Eighteenth Annual 
Bulletin of the Department of Labor. It does not give the average expendi- 
ture, only listing the percentages. The incomes in this table are subdivided 
further than .$500.00, and hence no figures for New York families of over ?500.00 
were available. 



52 



UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 




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NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 53 

5. Abuonualities in NegTo Expentlitures. 

The foregoing tables show the following abnormalities in the 
expenditures of negroes: (1) The percentages spent for food by the 
negroes of Athens is notably smaller than that of the white families 
investigated in Saxony and New York, and smaller than that of 
the negroes of Kansas City. This percentage decreases greatly with 
the increase in income. (2) The money expenditure for clothes 
remains practically stationary for the first four groups and then 
jumps upward suddenly for the fifth group. (3) The expenditure 
for rent is about the same for all families, the percentage of total 
outlay which goes for this item steadily decreasing with increasing 
income. (4) The percentage spent for fuel is high, especially in 
the lower classes, but decreases with increasing income. (5) The 
percentage remaining for miscellaneous expenditure is very great 
compared to the white families of New Yorlc and much larger than 
that of the negroes of Kansas City. 

A more detailed study of the individual items throws light on the 
peculiarities of negro expenditures. 

Food. The negroes of Athens spend only a small part of 
their income for food. The ante-bellum menu of corn-bread and 
side-meat, or flour hoe-cake and pork, is still common. It will be 
noticed that while, as a general rule the percentage of total outlay 
which goes for food decreases with increasing income, there is an 
rctual increase from 30.9 per cent, to 3 6.4 per cent, between groups 
one and two. The expenditure is low in group one because of the 
fact that the income of many families is the wages of a domestic 
servant, and the service basket, or broken victuals carried home 
from the table of the employer, reduces the necessary expenditure 
for food.'"' 

Clotluiig. There is much difference in the clothing of the poorer 
and the better class of negroes. The first desire of the women of 
prosperous families is to out-dress their poorer neighbors. In many 
cases, in the poorer families, practically the whole family is clothed 
through gifts, while in almost all others where the income of the 
family is under $500, second-hand clothes are bought. But the 
most prosperous negroes are very particular with their clothes, 
spending proportionately much more than the lower classes. 

Rent. This item plays a prominent part in the family budget of the 
three lower classes of negroes, and, in reality does not properly be- 
long in the budget of families of an income of over $500.00, as 
these families live in homes owned by some member of the family. 
Rent has been more fully discussed in the chapter on Settlements 



5 The pei-centase of total expenditure for the town of Athens follow closely 
the percentages In group 5 as budgets from this group are larger and have 
more effect on the total budget. 



54 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

and Rents and the amount of money spent therefor was emphasized 
there. In the higher classes the percentage paid for rent is small. 

Fuel. The item of fuel is also relatively very high in the budgets 
of families with a low income. This is due to the fact that such 
families are pitifully lacking in knowledge of economy. Fuel is 
bought in "driblets" instead of in cord or ton quantities. The usual 
amount of wood bought is a dollar's worth, which lasts the average 
woman who washes for a living less than a week. Investigation 
revealed that charcoal would do the same amount of heating at from 
20 to 30 cents a week, and a gasoline iron would make a further 
reduction of five or ten cents. These fuels are, however, seldom 
used, as the gasoline iron or charcoal pot costs from $2.50 to $3.50, 
and the average negro of this class never gets this much money 
ahead, and would rather pay $1.00 every week for wood than to 
make the required outlay for an iron or a pot. 

It is in this case that the negro's ignorance vitally affects his 
standard of living. They have no idea of saving or of preparation 
for the future, and have no one to direct them along these lines. 
The condition of the families whose head is a washerwoman with a 
weekly wage of two and a half or three dollars, one dollar of which 
is paid out for wood, is indeed pitiable. They are compelled to live 
in squalor and filth merely because of the lack of sufficient know- 
ledge of economy. 

Miscellaneous. The average expenditure for miscellaneous items 
is 53 per cent, of the total outlay. The percentage of the total in- 
come spent for miscellaneous items rises with much more rapidity 
than the income. In the lower income groups not much is left for mis- 
cellaneous expenditure, but beginning with group III, the percentage 
becomes abnormal. The average is extremely high, but as has been 
explained, it is accounted for by the fact that the negro can live on 
a small part of his wage, since his wants are easily satisfied. If this 
miscellaneous expenditure were saved, or spent for such laudable 
wants as education, furniture and books, it might be to the negro's 
advantage that his actual expenditure is only half his income. Such, 
however, is not the case. Agents, saloons, and installment dealers 
cater to negro trade with the view of getting this extra money, and, 
except in cases of exceptional thrift, they succeed. Instead of spend- 
ing the surplus for legitimate needs, negroes too often spend it for 
near-beer. Instead of better furniture, cheap prints, organs, and 
bric-a-brac are too often purchased; and instead of better clothing 
a surplus of wages over expenditures goes, too often, for gaudy 
ornaments. 

6. Necessity for CJieater Diversifloation of Wants. 

The fact that the negro can live off of the fruits of three days' 
labor, and, if so minded, can rest the other three days, is emphasized 
by the fact that half of the income of the negro goes for 



NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 55 

incidentals, while the items of food, shelter, cleanliness, and self- 
improvement receive the slightest possible attention. As long as 
the negro's standard of living is so low that he can expend his 
money in this way, and suffer no loss of satisfaction, just so long 
will his progress be painfully slow. The fallacy that higher wages 
would make the negro a better workman has been disproved by his 
tendency to spend for unnecessary articles all over and above a 
certain low percentage of his income. His wants must be diversified 
before any steps can be taken towards bettering his present living 
conditions. 

The Outlooko tells a good story of a New England cotton mill 
that moved South and employed negro labor. On Saturday night 
long rows of negroes filed out with their week's wages, and on 
Monday only a small portion of them came back. It was Thursday 
before the full number returned and all the mills could be put in 
operation. The mill remained in this predicament until the owner's 
son took charge of the company commissary. He installed gaudy 
show windows, and whetted the negro's desire for his articles by 
appealing to his tastes. His windows were filled with silver headed 
canes, purple hats, organs, pictures, and week after week he had 
something new to attract his customers. In this way the wants of 
the negroes were ever shifting, and their desire for the satisfaction 
which could be gained by labor was always kept fresh in their minds. 
The mills operated six days in the week from that time on. 

The problem is to make the really essential things which go to 
sustain a higher standard of life attractive to the negro. If he 
works for the gaudy and the unnecessary, he will work for the 
substantial things of life when he becomes convinced of their 
desirability. Nothing is so fundamentally important as this vision 
of a better standard of life. It is the same thing, of course, as an 
increase in self-respect, a desire to have an attractive home, clean 
surroundings, substantial furniture, wholesome food, and educated 
children. These wants require money and hence constant labor. 
An increase in industrial efficiency must follow a more faithful 
application to work, and the entire complexion of negro life would 
be changed for the better, and race relations vastly improved. . 

The agencies which must be relied on to effect this revolution in 
negro life are the church and the school. And the activities of these 
institutions must receive the sympathy, encouragement and aid of 
Southern white people. Negroes are highly responsive to suggestions 
emanating from whites whom they consider really concerned in 
their welfare. The dominant race of the South has not only too 
long neglected its duty towards the negro, but has been blind to its 
own self-interest in bettering the conditions under which the weaker 
race lives. 

6 Lee, G. S., Good News and Hard Work, in The Outlook, May 31, 1913. 



56 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Atlanta University Publications (Atlanta University Press). Num- 
bers 1-16, inclusive. 

1. Mortality of Negioes in Cities. 

2. Social and Physical Condition of Negioes in Cities. 

3. Some Efforts of Negroes for Social Betterment. 

4. The Negi'o in Business. 

5. The College Bred Negio. 

6. The Negro Common School. 

7. The Negro Artisan. 

8. The Negro Church. 

9. Notes on Negro Crime. 

10. A Select Bibliography of the Negro American. 

11. The Health and Physique of the Negro Ameiican. 

12. Economic Cooperation Among NegTO Americans. 

13. The Negro American Family. 

14. Some Efforts for Social Bettennent Among Negro Americans. 

15. The College Bred NegTo American. 

16. The Common School and the Negi-o American. 

Brooks, R. P. A Local Study of the Race Problem, Political Science 

Quarterly, June, 1911. 
Comptroller General of Georgia, Reports 1875, 1880, 1885, 1890, 

1895, 1900, 1905, 1910. 
Dubois, W. E. B. 

The Negro Landholder of Georgia. Bulletin U. S. Department 

of Labor, 1901. 
The Negroes of Fannville, AMrginia. Bulletin U. S. Department 

of Labor, 1898. 
The Philadelphia Negro. University of Pennsylvania Publica- 
tions. (Philadelphia, 1899). 
Elwang, W. W. The Negroes of Columbia, ^lissouri. University of 

Missouri Publications, (Columbia, 1904). 

Ely, R. T. Outlines of Economics. (Macmillan Company, 1909). 

Lee, G. S. Good News and Hard AVork. (Outlook, March 31, 1913). 

Kelsey, Carl. The Negro Farmer. University of Pennsylvania Publi- 
cations (Philadelphia, 1902). 

Martin, A. E. Our Negro Population. (Kansas City, 1912). 

Murphy, E. G. 

The Basis of Ascendancy. (The Macmillan Company, 1909), 
The Present South. (The Macmillan Company, 1904). 

Thorn, W. H. T. The Negi'o of Litwalton, Virginia. Bulletin U. S. 
Department of Labor, 1901. 
The Negro of Sandy Spring, Maryland. Bulletin U. S. Depart- 
ment of Labor, 1901. 

Stone, A. H. Studies in the American Race Problem. (Longmans, 
Green & Company, New York, 1908). 



NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 



57 



Superintendent Athens City Schools, Reports, 1886-1912. 
Georgia State Superintendent of Schools, Report, 1911, 1912. 
Washington, B. T. Is The Negi-o Having a Fair Chance? (Century 

Magazine, November, 1912). 
Weatherford, W. D. 

Negro Life in the South, (Nashville, 1911). 

Present Forces in the Uplift of the Negro. (Nashville, 1912). 
Winston, G. T. Relation of the Whites to the Negroes. (Annals 

American Academy, Vol. 18). 



APPENDIX A. 

INDIVIDUAL QUESTIONNAIRE. 

February, 1913. No Head of Family 

Street No Rooms Material Painted. 

Families in house Persons Water Light Privy ) _. 

Closet} _. 

Owner Rent per month Any Boarders 



Individual Statistics. 



1 


Relation to head 














1 


2 


Sex 














?. 


3 


Afifp 














8 


4 


Married, Single, 
Widowed or Divorced 

Able to read 














4 


p; 














5 


6 


Able to write 














6 


7 


Attend what school _ 
Attend reaularlv 














7 


8 














8 


9 


What church 














9 


10 


What lodee 














10 


11 


Where born 














11 


12 


Ocpii nation 














^?, 


13 


Work how many days 
in the week 














18 


14 


. Wages per day, 
week month 














14 


15 


What other occupation 
have you followed _ 

Any income from 
investments 














15 


16 














16 





















58 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

Family Statistics. 

Do you own Property? How much?. 



Why do your children not attend school? _ 

Length of residence in Athens? In this house? 

How long have you had your present job? 

Weekly expenditures for food? Clothes- Rent? 

Tobacco? Snuff? Liquor? Insurance?. 

Church? Total 

How much do you save? 



APPENDIX B. 
DOMESTIC SERVICE QUESTIONAIRE. 

f female [ mulatto 

1. Number of servants (male -{ black 

[ white 

2. Do your servants come regularly? 

3. Do they live on your lot? Are they honest?-. 

4. What results are obtained from asking for references?. 



5. What do you pay per week to: Cook $ Maid $ 

Butler $ Driver $ Chauffeur $ 

Washerwoman $ Other servants $ 

6. What hours do they work? Sunday hours? 

7. Have you had experience with white servants in Athens?. 



8. Do you have more difficulty in getting servants at any one season 
of the year than another? 

9. Does your cook carry a "service basket"? 

10. What do you estimate the total cost of cook in wages, waste, 
fuel, etc.? 

11. Give name and reason for departure or discharge of cooks and 
maids employed during last year 

Name Discharged Reason 



REMARKS: 



(Do not include washerwomen except in No. 5). 

APPENDIX C. 

Questionnaires for Lodges and Churches. 

Lodges. 

Name of officer Office Full Title of 

Loige Membership: Male? Female? 

Benefits: Sick? Funeral? Death? Charity? 

Amount of Dues- Taxes? Total annual disbursements? 

How long has lodge been established in Athens? 



4 



NEGROES OP ATHENS, GA. 59 

Chiu'ches. 

Name of Church? How long have you been pastor? 

Number Women Members? Men? 

Is Church Owned by Congregation? 

Do you do anything besides preach for a living? 

APPENDIX D. 

Remarks on Domestic Sei-vice, Taken from Answers to Questionnaire 

Sent to Housekeepers. 

1. was the cook I had in the winter of 1911-12 and 

was regular in coming. I could not induce her to keep clean 
kitchen, so did not reengage her when I returned in the autumn. 

2. Cook would not work as required. Reasons for discharging 
servants were laziness and slovenliness, ill health, and dishonesty. 

3. In 15 years of housekeeping I have had 5 cooks; first one for 
5 years, second for 7 years, third for 3 years, fourth for six months, 
fifth for one month, so far. The old man on my lot is in his 7th 
year of service to me. He is old and slow, but has never failed 
once to come in the morning in good time. That does not seem 
the case with the younger ones. 

4. Maid is sickly, or pretends to be a great part of the time. 
Has been absent a month, but sends word each week that she will 
be back. The cook and butler are above the average servants in 
service and honesty. I have had 6 maids during the year and only 
two of any account at all. One died of consumption, but was old 
and had it when she came. The sickly one is honest, but not re- 
liable. 

5. I have an exceptional girl. Has been with me for two years 
regularly and has lost practically no time. She is far above the 
average. I had one girl two years ago. After she left me I learned 
she had stolen a number of things. They were returned when I 
learned of it. 

6. I do not remember all the names, but all were discharged for 
worthlessness, untidiness and stealing, save two, and they just quit 
because I required them to eat their meals here instead of taking 
them home. 

6. Both women and men are as a rule indolent and need over- 
sight. 

7. Do not know just what reply to make to the question about 
cost. Think there is considerable waste by the average cook. The 
wages are a small part of cost. 

8. Have had present cook one year, the one previous to this 
thirteen years. 

9. Have had the same cook for the past eight years, in fact, she 
worked for me when we were living on the farm before she was 
married. Has only lost four weeks in the past eight years. 

10. I find maids and cooks more dishonest than male servants. 
I seldom ever change cooks. Generally keep the same one three or 



60 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

four years, then take back one I had before. Don't notice their 
shortcomings. Change maids and butlers sometimes weekly and 
sometimes monthly. Have had same milker thirteen years. 

11. My servants have proved fairly honest, all things considered. 

12. I never discharge them. I allov^^ them to discharge me, if 
I wish to be rid of them. Then they give me a good name, and to 
get servants is easier. The reason I let any of them go is that they 
get "trifling" — they all do- in time. Some of them have admitted 
it themselves. Negroes have intellects of the type of children's 
and the only way to get along with negro servants is to humor 
them and command them just as you would children. 

13. Have had butler for sixteen years, and he is Iionest. Cook 
has been with us about eight years. 

14. Have let several nurses go for different reasons. Have for- 
gotten their names. Discharged only one, distrusted her honesty 
and influence over the children. Have had practically no servant 
troubles in the past six years, except with nurses. 

15. I find more trouble in getting servants who will do more than 
one kind of work than anything else. Example: the cook does not 
want to clean house and driver will not work the garden, or serve 
the table. 

16. Have had a "black mammy" servant for 23 years and have 
the same servant now that I had after the death of an old servant. 
I feel that I have been extremely fortunate in the matter of servants, 
but my work is not hard on them. 

17. I have had my cook for over four years, and she has been 
very satisfactory. She is a settled woman and likes to stay at a 
place and not change often. I suppose it costs us a third more for 
cook and fuel than wages. 

18. My cook has been with us over twenty years. Perfectly 
honest and most reliable, but she will take anything to eat off the 
lot. My maids all get married. As to my cook's baskets, she never 
takes anything out of the house, but she slips something while she 
is cooking to feed her family, although I carry the keys. 

20. My present cook has been with me for ten years. The servant 
problem gives he little trouble. 

21. My family is very small, just two, so we have very little 
trouble. 

22. Some questions you asked I cannot answer as I have had my 
cook about fifteen years. Have not had much experience with the 
average darky. I suppose the cook's total cost will be five dollars 
per week. My butler has been with me about eight months only. 

23. I am away for three months in the year, which breaks into 
my plans greatly. I had the same boy two years, but had to give 
him up as he did not want to go to the country in the summer. 
This year he went to school. I could not possibly give the names 
of nurses during the past year, and all were unspeakable. Have 



NEGROES OF ATHENS, GA. 61 

usually had my nurses for a long time and very good ones. Have 
had much less trouble than most people, I think, and have usually 
had good servants. The seasons of bad ones have proved, however, 
that there are some whom no treatment can benefit or reform. 

24. Our cook has been with us for twenty years; our driver four- 
teen; our maid for eight and our chauffeur for one. Have had no 
occasion to discharge a servant for twenty years. 

25. I do not remember the names of ones I had last year, they 
certainly are very unsatisfactory. Before they learn where to put 
cooking vessels they just fail to come back and then another is to 
be taught the same things. 

2 6. By carrying off food, wastefulness and carelessness in general, 
I should say they cost $40.00 a month. 

27. No name for their utter triflingness. Thorough and reliable 
in nothing. 

2 8. It is hard to tell why the servants leave. They just grow 
tired, I suppose. 

2 9. My white servants have been cleaner and less careless than 
the negroes. 

30. I think that a negro cook is like a child, more liberty you 
give her the more she takes, and if you are careful and lock your 
pantry there will not be any waste. 

31. In my opinion one great cause of so many inefficient servants 
is because householders do not require recommendations from pre- 
vious employers as to honesty and efficiency. I think one of the 
most serious of the housekeepers' grievances is the habit of so 
many servants of leaving without any notice at all. I should be 
delighted to see the basket habit abolished, as it encourages theft 
and shiftlessness. 

32. I thing ladies should pay servants wages according to what 
they can do. One who can make cake, salads, bread, an deserts 
certainly deserves more than one that has to be taught. It would 
encourage them to learn. 

33. If we Southern people would build our houses with more 
conveniences we would not be compelled to worry with the negro. 

34. Most of the time from September until Christmas I was unable 
to get a servant. At Christmas there were many applicants but. they 
wished to work for a few weeks only and not one could give refer- 
ence. They were from the country. 

35. I find them all more or less dishonest, unreliable, dirty and 
incompetent. I am having much more trouble in securing a good 
washerwoman than I have ever had at any time before. 

36. The trouble with Athens servants is that they do not want to 
work and the fact that no attention is paid to references enables 
them to get a place at any time they need money. There are no 
trained servants in Athens and none who have a desire to better 
their work. 



62 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

37. We have saved between $15 and $20 (a month) without a 
regular servant. 

38. If I did without a cook, I would save about thirty dollai's a 
month in wages, food and fuel. My cook feeds her son from my 
table, but it is with my consent. 

39. I have the worst grade of servants and the most ignorant in 
my 20 years experience as a housekeeper in eight states east • of 
the Mississippi river. Residence in Athens over three years. 

40. Negroes as a rule are becoming less efficient every year. I 
think if the employers were as well organized as the employed, we 
would have more competent servants. 

41. I asked my driver, who could tell what wages our servants 
are paid, and he answered: "Miss, the Lord only knows." We can 
add to the money wage, clothing, shoes, overcoats, rain coats, blank- 
ets, etc. Much that is new, much that is "second-hand" but the 
money is only a part. I find much more faithfulness to reward 
than meanness to blame. 

42. One cook whom I have had a year and a half left to take in 
washing, so she said. I believe that it was because my family was 
too small to allow a large enough service pan. I had three in the fall. 
One stopped to pick cotton, and the other two got sick. 

43. I have had my cook nine years and my mother had her that 
long before me. 

4 4. Have had three servants in ten years. 

45. Some of our servants have been excellent, and some too defi- 
cient for anything. 

4 6. Question as to honesty should always presumably be answered 
in the negative. There is, however, a difference in degree. Theft 
of provisions is commonest, and this is practically universal among 
the negro race. 

47. I have had my boy for two and a half years and he has given 
perfect satisfaction. 

48. The main trouble with us is that cooks do not come early 
enough to prepare breakfast properly. 

4 9. My first nurse departed at the end of first day and has not 
been heard from since. She left no message. I lost a very good 
servant in moving to Athens. 

50. I have found no difficulty in getting servants, the only trou- 
ble being in getting them to stay in the afternoon. If they are 
allowed to go home after dinner they are satisfied. I should say 
that my cook costs me between $15 and $2 per month. 

51. I changed servants frequently last year; they either left of 
their own accord or were discharged. In both cases for triflingness. 

52. Above I said that servant is honest, yet I charge in $75 per 
year for food "taken." Nobody expects a negro's honesty to extend 
to food.. Cook does about half of the house cleaning and gets off 
early. 



MARCH, 1915 



Bulletin of the University of Georgia 



Volume XV. 



Number 3 



I Phelps -Stokes Fellowship 

Studies, No. 2 






n 




Rural Survey of Clarke County, Georgia, 
with Special Reference to the Negroes 



Bntered at the Post Office at Athens, Ga., as Second Class Matter, August ^\. 1905. 
under Act of Congress of July 16tli, 1904. Issued Monthly by the University. 

SERIAL. NUMBER 236 



MARCH, 1915 



Bulletin of the llniversily ol Georgia 

Volume XV. Number 3 



Phelps -Stokes Fellowship 
Studies, No. 2 



.0% 







/ 



^%j^7a^,,// 



Rural Survey of Clarke County, Georgia, 
with Special Reference to the Negroes 



Entered at the Post Office at Athens. Ga.. as Second Class Matter, August 31, 1905. 
under Act of Consress of July ICth, 100-t. Issued Monthly by the University. 

SERIAL NUMBER 336 



Coileeted set. 



ciy 



D, of D.' 

IA^' 3 1917 



During the academic year 1912-13 there was established in the 
University of Georgia a Fellowship for the study of Negro problems 
in the South. The resolution of the Trustees of the Phelps-Stokes 
Fund in creating the Fellowship reads as follows: 

"Whereas, Miss Caroline Phelps Stokes in establishing the Phelps- 
Stokes Fund was especially solicitous to assist in improving the 
condition of the negro, and 

"Whereas, It is the conviction of the Trustees that one of the best 
methods of forwarding this purpose is to provide means to enable 
southern youth of broad sympathies to make a scientific study of the 
negro and of his adjustment to American civilization, 

"Resolved, That twelve thousand five hundred dollars ($12,500) 
be given to the University of Georgia for the permanent endowment 
of a research fellowship, on the following conditions: 

"1. The University shall appoint annually a Fellow in Sociology, 
for the study of the Negro. He shall pursue advanced studies under 
the direction of the departments of Sociology, Economics, Education 
or History, as may be determined in each case by the Chancellor. 
The Fellowship shall yield $500, and shall, after four years, be 
restricted to graduate students. 

"2. Each Fellow shall prepare a paper or thesis embodying the 
result of his investigations which shall be published by the University 
with assistance from the income of the fund, any surplus remaining 
being applicable to other objects incident to the main purpose of the 
Fellowship. A copy of these resolutions shall be incorporated in 
every publication issued under this foundation. 

"3. The right to make all necessary regulations, not inconsistent 
with the spirit and letter of these resolutions, is given to the Chan- 
cellor and Faculty, but no changes in the conditions of the foundation 
can be made without the mutual consent both of the Trustees of the 
University and of the Phelps-Stokes Fund." 

I appointed as Fellow under this foundation for the year 1913- 
1914 Mr. W. B. Hill, a graduate of the University in the Class of 
1913, and placed the work under the direction of Professor R. P. 
Brooks, of the department of History. The present study is published 
in pursuance of the requirement in the second condition attached to 
the Fellowship. 

DAVID C. BARROW, 
Chancellor, University of Georgia. 



PREFACE. 

The first of the Phelps-Stokes Studies, published by the University 
of Georgia in 1914, was the result of an investigation into the con- 
ditions of Negro life in the city of Athens. The second year's work 
under this foundation, here presented, extends the study to include 
the Negroes of Clarke County, exclusive of Athens. The study takes 
the form of a rural survey of the county, canvassing the conditions 
prevailing among both whites and blacks, because it was felt that 
after all the really important questions are, what are the Negro's 
relations to his white neighbors, and how do his conditions compare 
in certain respects with the conditions prevailing among the whites? 

It would have been neither practicable nor profitable to consult all 
of the 1300 farmers of the county. Instead an effort was made to 
confer with a number of representative men of both races in each 
district of the county. I succeeded in obtaining information from 
52 white landowners, 30 colored landowners, and 70 Negro tenants. 
Three months in the winter of 1914 were spent in the study of 
economic conditions, and two months in the spring were used in 
the work on schools and churches. 

W. B. HILL. 

Athens, Ga., February, 1915. 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 

Rural Survey of Clarke County, Georgia, with 
Special Reference to the Negroes 



CHAPTER L 

LOCATION, TOPOGRAPHY, AND EARLY HISTORY. 

1. Physical Characteristics. 

What is now Clarke County was a part of Franklin County before 
the Revolutionary War, and was afterwards included in Jackson, 
when that county was created by the Legislature in 17 96.i Clarke 
County was cut off. from Jackson by an act of the Legislature in 
1801, but was not settled at that time. The county was named for 
the Revolutionary hero. General Elijah Clarke; probably the name 
was suggested by an Indian trading post named Clarkesboro, which 
was located near the present northern boundary of the county.- The 
new county had an area of 250 square miles. It will be interesting 
to trace the changes which made an originally large county the 
smallest one in Georgia. The first land taken from Clarke was in 
1801, when part of the county was annexed to Madison. The next 
land taken was added to Oglethorpe in 1813. Madison County was 
given more land at the expense of Clarke in 1829. But the greatest 
reduction came in 1875, when the entire county of Oconee was 
created from Clarke. This left Clarke an area of 74,012 acres, or 
115.6 square miles. ^ 

Athens had grown to be an educational center of the State, and 
had secured a city charter in 18 72. Although Athens was at this 
time much larger than Watkinsville, the smaller town was still the 
county site. Many of the citizens were in favor of making Athens 
the county site, but the. Watkinsville people naturally opposed the 
change. The Legislature settled the matter in 1875 by creating 
Oconee County from the southern part of Clarke, with Watkinsville 
as the county site, and Athens became the site of Clarke. Part of 
the town of Winterville was added to Clarke from Oglethorpe in 
1906,4 and the present boundaries of the county are as follows: 
On the north, Madison; on the south and southwest, Oconee; on 
the northwest, Jackson; and on the east, Oglethorpe. 

Clarke County is situated in the hill country of Northeast Geor- 
gia, about forty miles from the Blue Ridge Mountains, whose peaks 
can be seen from Athens on a clear day. The average elevation of 
the county is 800 feet. The trend of the water systems is to the 
southeast, and the ridges leading down toward the sea form the 

1 Smith. G. G.. Story of Georgia and the Georgria People, p. 221. 

2 Straban. C. M., Athens and Clarke County, p. 9. 

<5 Ibid, p. 10. Tbe U. S. Census gi^es the area of Clarke County as 72,960 acres. 
Census lUlO, Abstract for Georgia, p. 658. 
4 Cen.sus 1910, Abstract for Georgia, p. 636. 



6 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

water-sheds. The principal streams are the forks of the Oconee, 
one of them known as "Middle River," which meet in the southern 
part of the county. The county has been described as a "succession 
of high ridges with broad backs, whose sides descend rapidly as 

the streams are reached and the general appearance of 

the country has all the characteristics of that belt of country lying 
forty miles from the Blue Ridge range in Virginia and the Caro- 
linas." 5 

The soils'^^ of Clarke County may be classified as red lands, gray 
sandy, mulatto, and alluvial bottom soils. The red clay lands, about 
sixty-five per cent, of the total area, occur in two belts about six 
miles in width extending across the county. This soil has an 
average depth of about eighteen inches, with a tougher red clay 
subsoil. Containing little sand and being fine-grained and com- 
pact, the red clay land is very retentive of moisture. It is best 
suited for corn, clover, and wheat, but more than half the red clay 
area is usually planted to cotton. 

About thirty per cent, of the county is taken up by gray sandy 
land, which forms a belt some three miles wide in the middle of 
the county. This soil is sixteen inches deep and has under it a 
yellowish or reddish clay, which is not so retentive of moisture as 
the red land. This land washes more easily than the red clay soil, 
and is more rapidly exhausted. On the other hand, it recuperates 
faster than the red clay. It is best adapted to cotton and oats. 

The bottom lands comprise about five per cent, of the land area. 
They vary in width, but are narrow, as a rule. This land consists 
of a dark, alluvial loam, often having a subsoil of tough pipe clay, 
bluish or white. This land is admirably suited to corn. 

The forest growth on these lands is about as follows: on the 
red clay lands, Spanish, red, black, and white oaks; chestnut, pine, 
and hickory; on the gray lands, white, red, Spanish and post oaks; 
hickory, pine, and chestnut; on the bottoms, hickory, birch, pine, 
oak, and walnut. 

No health statistics are available, but the county has an excellent 
health record, due to the climate, and the rolling character of the 
land. The few deaths that occur from contagious diseases are 
usually from pulmonary tuberculosis and typhoid fever. Deaths 
from diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, and mumps are rare. There 
are occasional cases of smallpox, but practically no deaths from 
this disease. Malaria is almost unknown. This is explained by 
the fact that the county is located in the Piedmont section, and that 
the land is well drained by the creeks and rivers. The numerous 
streams of the county are not sluggish, but fairly swift at all points, 
with a number of shoals and rapids. The banks of the streams are 
elevated, and this has the effect of facilitating drainage, as well as 

n Stralmn, op. cit., p. 11. „ i. tt nn 

« Census ISSO, Vol. VI, Cotton Production in the United States, rnit II, p. .)i. 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 




8 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

preventing overflows, which in more level country often cause 
lagoons and swamps. Under the paragraph "Temperature and Pre- 
cipitation" below it will be shown that the county has a climate 
almost ideal for health. 

The most important of the streams comprising the county's water 
systems are the two forks of the Oconee River, which unite on the 
Oconee County line in the lower end of Clarke. The rainwater fall- 
ing on the area drained by these two rivers runs off rapidly, due to 
the rolling character of the country. This tendency is offset to some 
extent by the woodland covering some twenty-five per cent, of 
the total area. Then, too, the nature of the ground is such that 
much rainwater is readily taken up, and later finds its way into 
the numerous branches and creeks forming the tributaries of the 
rivers. The flow of water in the rivers and larger creeks is well 
maintained, while freshets and overflows are very rare. 

The following table gives the Climatological Data for Athens, 
1909-1913." 

TABLE No. 1. 
Climatological Data for Atliens, 1909-1913. 

1909 1910 1911 1912 191? 

Annual mean 60.9 60.9 

£ Highest 96 96 

a-\ Date Aug. 29 Aug. 2 5 

Lowest 11 18 

Date Jan. 31 Feb. 13 

' Total for year, in. 51.57 47.26 

Greatest monthly 7.56 8.24 

Month July June 

Least monthly 1.56 .23 

Month Nov. Nov. 






No. rain days 105 102 

No. clear days 198 

No. partly cloudy 57 

Total snowfall T 

No. cloudy 110 

Pievailing winds west west 

Elevation of Athens, 772 feet. 

The annual mean temperature for these five years was 61.36 
degrees Fahrenheit. From the table it is evident that the hottest 
days usually occur during the latter part of August. The average 
of the highest temperatures is 100 and of the lowest 14.2. The 
coldest days during the five years were mostly in January. The 
average total rainfall per year was 4 9.9 inches. The wettest season 
of the year varied between spring and summer, while the least rain- 
fall was in November in four of the years; the average number of 
rainy days per year was 109. 

T This table wns rompilod from luilletiiis of the TJ. S. Weather Bureau entitled 
Climatological Data lor (il«'org:ia. for the years 1909-1913. 



63.2 


60.5 


61.6 


103 


99 


108 


June 4 


Aug. 30 


July 19 


14 


9 


19 


Jan. 4 


Jan. 16 


Dec. 9 


50.02 


54.20 


47.12 


8.52 


7.65 


7.82 


Aug. 


Mar. 


Mar. 


.73 


1.84 


.32 


May 


Nov. 


Nov. 


110 


119 


109 


173 








38 











9.2 


T 


154 , 








west 


west 


west 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 9 

Taking the normal volume of the rainfall per month for these 
years, the total fall for the winter months is 14.7 inches, for the 
spring months, 11.7 inches, for the summer, 14.54, and for the fall, 
10.38 inches. These figures show clearly that the rainfall is well 
distributed throughout the year. From these data it is obvious that 
the county has a climate free from extremes of temperature as well 
as "wet" and "dry" seasons. Such a climate is well adapted to 
agriculture, and excellent from the standpoint of health. 

2. Settlement and growth. 

In 1801 the Board of Trustees of the University of Georgia, hav- 
ing decided to place the new institution in Jackson County, fixed 
upon the site of Athens as a proper location, and in the same year 
that part of Jackson was laid off as Clarke County. 

The erection of the first building began at once and in the same 
year the college was formally opened to students, Professor Josiah 
Meigs, then of Yale, being the first president. In 1804 President 
Meigs graduated the first class from the institution. The first 
settlers in Clarke were from Virginia and North Carolina, but later 
people came in from the older counties to the south. The settlement 
around the University continued to grow, and a town charter was 
secured in 1806, the name of Athens being selected for the little 
college town. At this time Athens was further north than any other 
town in Georgia, and therefore nearest to the Cherokee reservation.^ 
The county government was established in 1802, and a courthouse 
was erected at Watkinsville, seven miles to the southwest. 

b. Population by decades. 

"Like the other hill counties of Georgia, Clarke was settled by 
people of moderate means, "^ who lived on farms which were small 
compared to the large slave plantations of the cotton raising coun- 
ties, Morgan and Wilkes, for example. But slaves were brought in 
faster than white settlers came, as the population figures show. 

Table II. 
White and Black Poi>ulation. 

Year White Black Per cent. Black 



1810 


5000 


2628 


31 


1820 


5285 


3482 


39 


1830 


5438 


4738 


45.5 


1840 


5603 


4919 


47 


1850 


5513 


5606 


50 


1860 


5539 


5679 


50 


1870 


6488 


6453 


49 


1880 


5313 


6388 


54.5 


1890 


7072 


8111 


53.4 


1900 


8230 


9478 


53.5 


1910 


11502 


11767 


50.5 


8 Strahau, op. cit., p. 9. 








9 Smith, op. cit., p. 253. 









10 ' UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

Before the Civil War there were two agricultural systems in 
Northeast Georgia. One was the plantation system, followed by 
the large slaveholders, and the other was the small farm system, in 
which the farmer, often with a few slaves, but sometimes without 
any, raised corn and other food crops, and did not depend on cotton 
for his money crop, as did the large slaveholder. These small farm- 
ers could not compete with the planters, so they emigrated to the 
hill counties, like Jackson, where land was cheap. This exodus 
of whites resulted in counties like Wilkes and Greene having a good 
many more slaves than white people, while in Jackson and Madison 
the whites were decidedly in the majority. Clarke was divided be- 
tween these two systems, the plantation system obtaining in the 
southern part of the county, but the small farmers predominating in 
the county as a whole. As a result, the number of whites and Negroes 
was very nearly equal, and this is the case today. Thus Clarke is sit- 
uated on the border of the "black belt," the counties to the south- 
east being "black," and those to the northwest, "white." lo 

TABLE III. 
Table Showing Rural and Urban Population of Clarke County, 

1870-1910.11 

Urban (Athens). Rural (Rest of County). 
Year White Black White Black 



2248 


1679 


4240 


4774 


3017 


3011 


2296 


3377 


4715 


3924 


2357 


4187 


5055 


5190 


3265 


4288 


8612 


6316 


2890 


5451 



1870 
1880 
1890 
1900 
1910 

The table shows that the rural Negro population of the county has 
exceeded the rural white population since 1870, and has grown 
relatively faster. The loss of white and black population between 
1870 and 1880 in the rural section was due to the cutting off of 
Oconee County in 1875. The Negro population of Athens came from 
the counties both to the north and south of Clarke. For thirty years 
after the war the negroes coming to Athens generally came from 
old slaveholding counties such as Wilkes and Greene. Of later 
years the migration of the blacks to Athens from outside of Clarke 
has been scattering, but usually from the "white" counties.^- The 
increase in the white population of Athens has been due to the 
facilities for manufacturing offered by the water powers of the 
Oconee, and to the educational advantages of the city. 



10 Brooks, K. P., A Local Study of the Race Problem, in Political Science 
Quarterl.v, June, 1911, p. li»7. , ^, . .. ^ 

11 Woofter, T. J., Negroes of Athens, Ga., p. G. Bulletin of the University of 
GeorRin, 1912. Phelps-Stokes Studies, No. 1.- 

12 Ibid., p. 7. 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 11 

3. Economic History. 

It will be interesting to compare the white and Negro population 
of Clarke County with that of two adjacent counties, one in the 
black belt and one outside of it. The figures for periods of twenty- 
years are these: 

TABLE IV. 

Population Movements in Clarke (a border county), and Adjacent 

Wliite and Black Counties.i^ 





Clarke 


Jackson 


Oglethorpe 


Year 


White Black 


White Black 


White 


Black 


1810 


5000 2628 


8742 1827 


6851 


5440 


1830 


5438 4738 


6180 2824 


5659 


7951 


1850 


5513 5606 


6808 2960 


4382 


7877 


1870 


6488 6453 


7471 3710 


4641 


7141 


1890 


7072 8111 


13780 5396 


5686 


11264 


1910 


11502 11767 


21544 8613 


7342 


11388 



Looking at the population of Oglethorpe for 1810, it is seen that 
the slaves were in the minority, which means that the small farmers 
outnumbered the planters. But by 1830 the black population ex- 
ceeded that of the white, and by 1850 this difference became more 
marked, due to a decrease in the white population of 1,277, and a 
stationary black population. The increasing difference was caused 
by an exodus of the whites, carrying a few slaves with them. Some 
of the small farmers had evolved into planters, and were buying 
up the land of their less prosperous neighbors. Slaveholders coming 
in from the lower counties, where the land was being exhausted, 
also bought out small landowners. These small farmers moved on 
to Clarke, Jackson, and other counties, where land was cheaper. 

Looking now at the figures for Clarke, it is seen that during the 
interval from 1810 to 1850 the number of slaves increased over 
100 per cent, while the number of white people remained practically 
the same. In the southeastern and eastern parts of the county the 
small holdings were being absorbed by the planters, and the small 
farmers were moving to Jackson and other counties to the north. 
The southern part of the county is in the "plantation belt" today, 
while the northern part is made up of smaller farms. The land in 
Puryear's District, the most southern one in the county, bordering 
on Oglethorpe and Oconee, is held mostly in large tracts, and is 
either rented out to white or Negro tenants, or worked by super- 
vised Negro share and wage hands. The northwestern part of 
Clarke is "whiter" than the southeastern, the "blackest" district 
being Puryear's — the plantation district— where the whites con- 
stitute only 18 per cent of the total population. In Buck Branch, 
which also borders on Oglethorpe, the whites make up only 22 per 

13 Brooks, op. cit., p. 19S. 



12 



UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 




RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 13 

cent of the total population. In Bradberry's, however, the white 
people form 43 per cent of the population, and in Kinney's, 35 per 
cent. Both these districts border on Jackson County. From the 
figures for Jackson, it is evident that this county is out of the 
black belt. 

4. Civil Divisions. 







Table 


V. 








Showing the 


Population of 


the 


Militia 


Districts by Races 


14 

• 




Area, 








Per 




Per 


G. M. 


sq. mi. 


Name 




White 


Cent. 


Black 


Cent. 


216 


10.4 


Athens 




9080 


57 


6837 


43 


217 


9.27 


Ga. Factory 




363 


52 


332 


48 


218 


23 


Puryear's 




193 


18 


872 


82 


220 


22.5 


Buck Branch 




646 


21 


1337 


79 


241 


13.6 


Bradberry's 




331 


22 


427 


78 


1347 


14.2 


Kinney's 




315 


43 


584 


57 


1467 


6.5 


Princeton 




318 


35 


434 


65 


219 


15.9 


Sandy Creek 




256 


21 


944 


79 



Total, 11,502 49.3 11,767 50.7 

This table shows that only two districts in the county, Athens 
District and Georgia Factory, have a white population exceeding 
that of the Negroes. In the case of the Athens District, this is 
because the white people outnumber the colored people in the city. 
In this district, outside of Athens, there are 521 negroes and 368 
whites. Georgia Factory District is about equally divided, the whites 
being 31 in excess of the negroes. The explanation of this is that 
there are in this district two cotton mills, Georgia Factory and the 
Whitehall Yarn Mill, employing white operatives. The factory town 
of Whitehall has a population of 2 30.i'^ On the farms the negroes 
outnumber the whites. Princeton District has two mills, Princeton 
Factory and the Cord Mill, which are smaller than those in Georgia 
Factory. But in this case the increased number of whites is more 
than offset by negro settlements at Allenville and Chestnut Grove. 
The Allenville settlement is a suburban one, many of the negro 
residents working in Athens. Chestnut Grove, however, is a strictly 
rural settlement, most of the negroes owning their farms. With 
the exception of Athens, Buck Branch District has the largest 
population, both white and Negro, in the county. After Puryear's, 
this is the largest district in the county, and has a white settlement 
at Tuckston, in addition to the town of Winterville, with a total 
population of 4 65. And just outside of Athens, there is a large 
Negro settlement and a fertilizer plant employing Negro labor. 
Sandy Creek District borders on Madison, a white county, and we 



14 This table w.is compiled by the U. S. Census Bureau, and is not to bo 
found hi any printed report. 

15 Census 1910, Abstract for Georgia, p. 344. 



14 UNIVERSITY OP GEORGIA. 

should expect this district to be whiter than tliose toucliing the black 
counties. The explanation of the fact that only 21 per cent of the 
population is white, is that the Negroes have bought up a good deal 
of land in this district, both individually and in clubs. The clubs 
purchase tracts of land and subdivide it among the members. They 
returned for taxes^^ 2,9 63 acres, 1,790 acres more than was returned 
by the negroes of any other district. These farm owners are rather 
scattered, but a number of them live at Settlement. 



16 Tax Eeceivcr's booki of Clarke County, I'.)i;j. 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 15 

CHAPTER II. 
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS. 



1. Land area in farms. 

The Thirteenth Census, that of 1910, reports that 67,152i of the 
72,690 acres forming the area of Clarlie County are in farm land. 
The percent, of the county's land area in farms is 92.0. In 1900 
the land area in farms was reported as 61,310.2 The increase in land 
area in farms during the ten years of tlie Census period was thus 
5,842. Of the land in farms reported in 1910, 44,788 acres were 
reported as improved land, an increase of 6,221 in the acreage of 
improved land over that reported in 1900. At present 66.7 per cent, 
of *the farm land is improved. The area of unimproved land re- 
ported in 1910 was 1,634, and that of woodland, 20,730 acres. The 
average number of acres per farm is 48.6, and the average number 
of improved acres, 34.2. 

2. Farm values, 1900 and 1910. 

During the ten years between the twelfth census and the thir- 
teenth, there was an enormous increase in farm values. In Clarke 
County the value of land, as reported by the Census, rose from 
$627,540 to $2,444,057, an increase of $1,816,607. This increase 
is partly explained by the fact that the 1900 census was taken 
during a period of depression, while that of 1910 was taken during 
the reaction from a financial panic, and because of this reaction 
land had taken on a "boom"' or fictitious value. The value of 
houses on farms was reported in 1900 as $271,240, and in 1910 
as $713,245, the increase being $442,005. Other increases are as 
follows: 

Table VI.s 

Farm machinery, 1910 $129,595 

Farm machinery, 1900 48,460 

Increase 81,135 

Animals on farms, 1910 358,116 

Animals on farms, 1900 110,142 

Increase 247,974 

Value of animals slaughtered on farms in 1909__ 20,557 
Value of animals slaughtered on farm in 1899__ 13,031 

Increase 7,026 

Received from sale of animals in 1909 31,233 

Received from sale of animals in 1899 5,910 

Increase 26,323 

The Census does not report property ownership by races, but 
from the tax digest of Clarke County some idea can be had of the 
amount of property owned by Negroes. The aggregate value of 
land, including the buildings thereon, was returned in 1913 at 

1 Census 1910, Abstract for Georgia, p. 65S. 

2 Census 1900, Vol. V, Part I, p. 271. 

3 Ibid, p. 42G, and Census 1910, Abstract for Georgia, p. 658. 



16 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

$1,387, 656. ■* Of this total, $149,260, or 10.8 per cent., was returned 
by the Negroes. The total value of horses, mules, hogs, sheep, 
cattle, and all other stock returned was $228,115. In the case of this 
item the difference is not nearly so great, as the Negroes returned 
$69,005, or 30.3 per cent, of the total. The value of carriages, 
wagons, buggies, plantation and mechanical tools returned for 
taxes was $32,520. Of this sum only $235, or seven-tenths of one 
per cent, was returned by the Negroes. The total value of "all 
other property not enumerated" was $51,440, and the Negroes re- 
turned $1,000 of this, or 1.9 per cent. All of this was returned by 
the Negro taxpayers of Sandy Creek District. 

3. Number of farms. 

A special schedule secured from the Census Bureau shows that 
there are 1,382 farms in Clarke, 912 being farms of colored farmers, 
and 470 farms of white farmers. These figures are misleading unless 
some explanation is made of what the Census Bureau considers a 
"farm." In defining "farm," the Census says: "When a land- 
owner has one or more tenants, renters, croppers, or managers, the 
land operated by each is considered a farm.""' Under this definition 
a plantation worked with "croppers," as a share tenant is called, is 
reported as several farms, although in reality it is one farm, since 
it is under the supervision of one man, the owner or manager. 
The croppers go to work by the farm bell, and are practically wage 
hands paid with a part of the crop instead of with money. The 
farm of a renter, however, is under the supervision of the tenant 
himself, and is a farm in every sense of the word." The ex'iess of 
Negro over white farms is, of course, due to the definition given 
the word "farm." 

Of the farms of white farmers, 161, or 34.3 per cent, of the 
total, were reported as being between 20 and 4 9 acres. More 
white farms are in this size group than in any other. Eighty, or 
17 per cent, of the white farms, are between 10 and 19 acres, while 
95, or 20.3 per cent, are between 50 and 99. The 29 to 40 acre 
group contains 4 47, or 4 9 per cent, of the farms of Negro farmers. 
Sixteen and six-tenths per cent, of the Negro farms are between 
10 and 19 acres, and 17.3 per cent, are between 50 and 99.* 

4. Tendency since the Civil AVar of size of farms to decline. 

While the plantation system is still followed in some counties 
of Georgia, it has been almost abandoned in Clarke County. After 
the war the plantation system was very difficult to maintain, due 



4 Tax Receiver's Books of Clarke County, 191o. 

!> Census .1910, Abstract for deorKia. p. '_'(ir>. 

" P.rooks, K. P., Agrarian Kevoliitioii in (ieorgia, Cliai). IV. 

* See Appendix, p. 58. 



RURAL SURVEY OP CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 



17 



to the difficulty of controlling Negro labor. Many of the Georgia 
planters gave up the system altogether, and divided their lands into 
smaller farms, which they rented out for cash or cotton. Others 
maintained the system in a modified form, by farming part of the 
land with wage hands, and working the rest "on halves" with 
tenants. Since the share tenant works under the landlord's super- 
vision, the plantation was still one large farm, instead of many 
small ones, as in the case of the rented lands. All three of these 
systems were found on some of the farms in Clarke County. But 
the changing conditions tended to break up the plantation system, 
and its fall resulted in the creation of several small farms in the 
place of one plantation. The tendency since the War has been 
for the farms to grow smaller. 




Cotton — the County's main crop. 

5. Tenure of Farms. . 

Farms are classified for Census purposes as follows: those opera- 
ted by owners; by renters; by share tenants; and by managers. 
There is also a class between owners and tenants, known as "part 
owners." A part owner owns part of his farm and rents the rest 
from some one else, or works it on shares. A renter pays a stipula- 
ted amount of cotton for his land, or in rare cases a cash rental, 
while a share tenant or cropper pays his landlord a part of the 
crop, usually one-half. For this reason croppers are often called 



18 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

"halvers." Most of the Negro croppers work on halves, but a few 
of them, and a larger number of the white croppers, farm on the 
•'third and fourth" plan. Under this plant the tenant pays the 
owner a fourth of the cotton raised and a third of the corn. These 
croppers, like the renters, furnish their own stock and implements, 
while the "halvers" use the landlord's stock and tools. Renters 
are sometimes called cash tenants, but this term is not appropriate 
in Clarke County. They are usually referred to as "standing 
renters." A renter is supposed to "put himself through," that is, 
not to depend on his landlord to furnish him provisions on credit, 
or lend him money. Most of the white renters finance them- 
selves, and some of them sub-let land to Negroes on halves. But in 
the case of the Negro renters, a good many landlords "stand for 
them" by going security for them, or give "orders" on stores for 
provisions and other supplies, settling up with the tenant when 
the cotton and other crops are sold. 

TABLE VII. 

Table Showing Tenure of Farms, 1900 and 1910. 











1900. 




Share 




Total farms. 


O 


wners. 


Part owners. 


Renters. 


tenants. 


White 


359 




147 


25 


101 


71 


Negro 


480 




79 


32 
1910. 


200 


164 


White 


470 




177 


34 


107 


152 


Negro 


912 




128 


70 


336 


378 



Nine white farms were reported in 1910 as being supervised by 
managers. No Negro farms were operated by managers. These 
figures show an increase of 432 Negro farms during the ten year 
period. As there was a large increase in "land in farms" between 
these Census periods, we would expect a marked increase. The 
130 per cent, increase in the number of Negro croppers and the 60.3 
per cent, increase in the number of renters shows that a good many 
wage hands became tenants. The number of white renters increas- 
ed only 7 per cent., while the number of Negro renters increased 
60 per cent. This is an unhealthy sign, as is shown by the opinions 
expressed in the following paragraph. The Negroes greatly prefer 
renting, on account of its freedom from control, and have been able 
to determine to a considerable extent the terms of their contract. 

6. Questionnaire as to the relative merits of tlifferent 
forms of tenancy. 

When asked to give their opinions as to the relative merits of 
the wage system, cropping, and renting, a majority of the white 
landlords replied that the wage system was best from the landlord's 
standpoint; cropping, from the laborer's standpoint; and the wage 
system, from the standpoint of the care of land. But opinion was 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 19 



OWNERSHIP AND TENANCY 

WHITES, ^70 FARMS 

"T^E-R CENT, 

OWNED 37 



PART OWNED 



ON HALF SHARE 




4 



ON OTHEK share: 29 



"liENTED 



23 



NE&UOES, 912 FATIMS 



OWNED 



TART OWNED 




14 



8 



HALF SHARE it 



OTHER SHA15E ;IS 



"TtE^TED 37 



20 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

very much divided on these questions. Forty-eight and seven- 
tenths per cent, of the farmers interviewed answered tliat, from the 
landlord's point of view the wage system was preferable; 3 6.5 per 
cent, stated that cropping was more desirable; 12.2 per cent, gave 
it as their opinion that renting was most satisfactory. ^ Several 
landlords could see no difference between working wage hands and 
croppers. Looking at the question from the tenant's point of view, 
68.4 per cent, said that cropping was the best system; 24.3 per 
cent, thought the laborers were better off as wage hands; 9.7 per 
cent, held that the tenant makes more money by renting; while a 
few replied that it depended largely on the man. Their opinion 
was that if the tenant knew how to farm, he could make more 
profit by renting, but if he needed supervision he ought to work on 
halves. Sixty-five and eight-tenths per cent, said that the wage 
system was best, as far as the land was concerned; 2 9.2 per cent, 
preferred cropping; 4.8 per cent, thought cropping and working 
wage hands equally good, and both vastly superior to renting. 
No landlord said that renting was best for the land. 

In the appendix will be found a number of answers to this ques- 
tion, giving various reasons for the preferences expressed. The 
prevailing ones in favor of wages from every standpoint were these: 
A farmer working wage hands has better control of his labor than 
one who works croppers; the land can be kept up better under the 
wage system than by cropping; the owner does not have to put up 
so much against the laborer's time as under the cropping system; 
and a laborer who wants to save can save as much as a wage hand 
as he can as a "halver," unless he has a lot of help. The advocates 
of cropping said that the croppers do better work than wage hands, 
and do not have to be as closely watched, because they have an 
interest in the crop; they get the benefit of the landlord's know- 
ledge of farming, and hence are in a position to make more money 
than a wage hand. The landowners who preferred renting were 
nearly always absentee landlords, and their argument was that 
the owner knows what he is going to get from his renter, and does 
not have the labor of supervising him. 

7. Landownership among Negroes. 

The following figures from the County Tax Receiver's books show 
the acreage and value of land owned by Negroes in each district 
of the county, and the value of their city and town property. 



8 An effort was mafle to see ten farmers of both races, tenants and land- 
owners, iu every district. 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 21 

Table VIII. 

City or 
District Acres of land . Value of land. town property. 

Athens 592 $16,550 

Ga. Factory 191.5 3,625 

Puryear's 782.75 9,760 

Sandy Creek 2,963.4 53,630 

Buck Branch 1,143 20,410 

Bradberry's 1,173.75 15,920 

Princeton 1,154 20,845 

Kinney's 443.75 8,520 



$324,365 


1,250 

525 
300 


450 
600 



Total 8,415.75 $149,260 $327,490 

The total acreage returned by both races was 70,232. The 
Negroes, then, own 12 per cent, of the total area. The value 
of city or town property returned by the Negroes was 5.5 per cent, 
of $5,895,290, the total value of city or town property returned." 
Of the Negro landowners interviewed, 3 4.8 per cent, had not 
finished paying for their farms, but most of them had paid over 
half of the purchase price. One Negro farmer had been in posses- 
sion of his place 3 5 years, another 2 5, and a third 22 years. The 
average length of time that the Negro landowners had owned their 
farms was 9.6 years. Some who had paid for their land had mort- 
gaged it to buy more land. 

Undoubtedly some land is sold to Negroes who are able to make 
the first payment, with the expectation that they will not 
finish paying for it. The Negro, holding a bond for title, has to 
pay the taxes, and if he fails to make his payments the landowner 
has practically rented him the land and escaped taxes. But this 
is not a general practice. One white farmer said that some of the 
land sold to Negroes was land that had been rented so long that 
it had greatly depreciated in value. Under the cotton rent system, 
the renters are not encouraged to grow any soil-replenishing crops, 
and as the prevalent one-year lease system supplies no incentive 
to build up the place, they soon "rob the land" and move on to 
another farm. A white renter explained the increase of Negro 
farm ownership in his district by calling attention to the fact that 
the Negro, on account of his low standard of living, could make 
the first payment on a tract of land more easily than a white 
tenant could. 

8. Does the County feed itself? 

While Clarke is a county able to feed itself, the one-crop system 
so generally followed makes the county dependent on outside 
sources for food supplies. Instead of raising provisions on their 
farms, many of the farmers, especially the tenants, put their atten- 



9 "City or town property" means real estate inside the corporate limits of 
Athens or Winterville. This is a somewhat curious situation, l)ut it seems to 
be the case tliat rural negroes own a little property in these towns. 



22 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

tion on cotton, the "money crop," practically to the exclusion of 
everything else except corn and forage crops for the stock. The 
"rations" are bought in town with the money from the sale of 
cotton. From the 1910 Census the following figures were worked 
out by Mr. E. C. Branson for the "Home and Farmstead. "lo Home 
raised meat supply, per person, 1910: Butter, % of an ounce per 
day; milk, nearly % of a pint per day; eggs, Vs egg per day; 
poultry, 14 of a fowl per week; pork, nearly %.-, of a hog per year; 
beef, 1/15 of a beef per year; mutton, 1/200 of a sheep or goat per year. 
These figures show how deficient the county is in supplying itself 
with meat. In this connection, however, it should be remembered 
that Clarke is the smallest county in Georgia, with a population 
only 35.9 per cent, rural, and the city of Athens, whose population 
according to the last Census was 1.5,000. 

From the same source these figures have been taken to show to 
what extent the county does not sustain itself: population, 23,723; 
annual food bill, $1,930,659; annual feed bill for domestic animals, 
$561,800. Crops, including town-raised vegetables, $1,162,968; 
animal products, county and town, $541,301; total, $1,714,269. 
Shortage, $778,190. Clearly the county does not sustain itself. 

It must be said, however, that some of the large landowning 
farmers do raise feed and forage crops for their stock. But they 
are more than offset by the tenants, both black and white. Yet 
the whole blame for the production of cotton to the exclusion of 
truck farming and cattle raising cannot be laid upon the tenant. 
The absentee landlord has his rent paid in cotton, in the expecta- 
tion of high priced cotton in the fall. And the farmers who live 
on their places could have their tenants raise more food crops in 
proportion to cotton. 

9. Farm labor. 

Nearly all of the wage hands of the farms of Clarke County are 
Negroes. The average wage is $15 a month and board. The wages 
sometimes range from $12 to $18 on one place, depending on the 
worth of the laborer. The wage hands are paid more, as a rule, 
on the farms nearer the city than on those farther out. Most 
of the farmers estimated that their "hands" cost them a total of 
$20 a month, when the wage was $15 or $16. Where the farmer 
has only one or two laborers, they often get their meals in their 
employer's kitchen, and sometimes this method of boarding the 
help is followed on places where a half dozen wage hands are 
employed. But as a rule the laborer's rations are issued to him 
by the month or week, more often the latter. Where the planta- 
tion has a commissary, the laborers draw their provisions just as 
the croppers do theirs. But the prevailing custom is for the farmer 

10 Hoinf and Farnisteail, Athens, G.i.. Vol. XIII. Xo. 3.3. 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 23 

to buy the provisions and issue tliem to the hands. The commis- 
sary has the added advantage to the farmer of reducing his own 
grocery bill, as well as enabling him to save on his laborer's hire, 
by getting the provisions at wholesale rates. When the planter 
runs a store, the store takes the place of a commissary. The pro- 
visions given the laborer are, of course, part of his wages, and he 
has the advantage of the cropper, whose supplies are advanced to 
him, often with an added charge of ten per cent, interest. 

The planters hire their wage hands by the year when they can 
get them. This is the only means by which they can be sure of 
having labor at the time when it is most needed. In order to 
employ a hand, it is nearly always necessary to advance him money. 
Just before Christmas is the best time to hire Negroes, as this is the 
time when they are most anxious to get money. After the 
hand hag signed a contract to work a year, and has received an 
advance on his wages, sometimes he fails to report for work. The 
employer can then have the Negro arrested on a charge of cheating 
and swindling, but cannot make him fulfill the contract, as this 
would be a violation of the peonage law. But his case serves as 
an example to the other hands. One farm manager stated to the 
investigator that he tried to keep in debt to the laborers, instead 
of keeping them in debt to him. He refused to let his hands spend 
their money before they earned it. In this way, he said, the hands 
were better satisfied, as they did not have to pay debts with their 
wages as soon as they received them. He admitted that this custom 
had been hard to establish, but claimed that it was more satisfac- 
tory than the prevailing one. 

10. Child labor on the farms. 

The Negro farmers, both tenants and landowners, rely to a large 
extent on their children's help in the field. The amount of land 
cultivated by a cropper depends on the size of his family, and how 
many of his children are old enough to "help in the crop." It is 
customary on the larger places for the owner or manager to hire 
the cropper's family to help out the wage hands in rush seasons. 
The use of the children by the Negroes is the cause of the divided 
school term in the colored schools. Some of the colored farmers 
are dependent on their children's help, but in many cases children 
too small to be of much value as farm help are taken out of school. 
Even where the children are not taken out of school in such num- 
bers as to make the school attendance below the limit allowed for 
maintaining the school, it is not deemed expedient to keep the school 
open, since this would cause a breaking up of the grades. 

11. Scarcity of labor. 

Very few of the white farm land owners answered "Less," 
to the question, "Is it more or less difficult to get laborers than it 
was ten years ago?" And these men called attention to the fact 



2 4 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

that the price of farm labor had advanced greatly. One farmer 
said that his hands cost him about $10 a month in 1904, and $18 
in 1914. Another farmer whose place was near Athens said 
that the increase of the Negro population in Athens and the fact 
that the city had built in the direction of his place probably ex- 
plained why he could get laborers more easily than he could ten 
years ago, although he had to pay them higher wages. The majority 
of the farmers interviewed said that laborers were much harder 
to get than they were ten years ago, and most of them added that 
while the quality of labor was not so good, the wages had advanced. 
A farm manager who was an overseer of long experience said he 
found it about ten times as hard to get hands, and a number of 
farmers expressed the opinion that farm labor was "about half 
as good" as it was ten years ago. Various explanations were offer- 
ed on this point. For example, a common reason given for the 
scarcity of labor was that the Negroes were moving to town, where 
wages were higher, and the hours were not so long as on the farm. 
Other explanations were that the Negroes found employment in 
fertilizer plants, and in the construction of public works. Some 
farmers said that so many more Negroes were now renting land 
or cropping that the number of available laborers had been greatly 
reduced. This is doubtless the correct explanation of the shortage. 
The increase of farm land under cultivation since 1904 has created 
a larger demand for hands, and this helps to explain the scarcity 
of labor. 

12. Transportation. 

Clarke County has five railroads, the Seaboard Air Line, the 
Southern, the Georgia, the Central of Georgia, and the Gainesville 
Midland. The Seaboard is the only main line in the county. The 
Gainesville Midland is a local road connecting Athens and Gaines- 
ville. The Georgia has a station at Winterville; the Central has 
one at Whitehall; and the Gainesville Midland at Oconee Heights. 
These are the only railway stations outside of Athens. By reason 
of the central location of Athens, the small size of the county and the 
excellence of the country roads, the people do not suffer on account 
of the small number of stations. The county is remarkable for its 
system of public roads, which are among the best in the State. 
Many of them have been relocated since they were laid out. There 
are about 200 miles of graded roadway in the county. ^^ Half of this 
mileage has been top-soiled with a sand-clay mixture which greatly 
improves the road. The cross roads have been worked to some 
extent, but the most attention has been put on the main thorough- 
fares of the county, leading to the county sites and towns of adjoin- 
ing counties. The county convicts are used to maintain and improve 
the road system. 

11 Estimate of J. !>. Mclveroy, County Commissioner in cliarjre of roads, lftl-1 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 



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2G UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

13. How tlie farmers are financed. 

In order to show how the Negro tenants are financed, let us take 
for example ten from one district, eight renters and two croppers. 
Every one of these tenants depends on a merchant at Athens or 
Winterville for credit. Four secured credit by putting a mortgage 
on their cotton crop; that is, either by giving a crop lien or by 
agreeing to sell their cotton through a cotton factor; three got 
their supplies at their landlord's store in town; one put up his 
stock as security and another both his stock and crop; and one 
obtained credit by having his landlord endorse his note. Twenty- 
two per cent, of the Negro tenants are supplied from farm com- 
missaries.^2 These, of course, are all croppers. A few farmers buy 
provisions for their croppers, but when the farmer has neither a 
store nor commissary, he generally gives the tenant an order on a 
store. Of the Negro tenants, 5 8.3 per cent, depend on credit at a 
store, half of these furnishing some security, such as a mortgage on 
stock or a note endorsed by the landlord, and half getting an order 
on the store from their landlord. These tenants are practically 
dependent on the landlords to finance them, and even where they 
borrow money from a "warehouse man" or cotton factor, the land- 
lord nearly always endorses for them. Most of the tenants who 
get their credit at stores by means of orders are renters. Eleven 
per cent, of the colored tenants borrow money from their land- 
lords. This small division represents both croppers and renters. 
Eight and four-tenths per cent, of the tenants either "run them- 
selves," have their provisions bought by their landlord, or borrow 
from a cotton factor. 

The bank is the most popular source of credit with the white 
landowning farmers, 4 4 per cent, of those interviewed depend- 
ing on this source. The farmer usually gives a note, and some- 
times a mortgage on his land. Some of the farmers who patronize 
the banks as a general thing also go to cotton factors for loans at 
times. The interest paid to the bank was generally reported as 
8 per cent, but in a few cases as high as 10 per cent. The cotton 
factors "carry" the white farmers to a larger extent than the 
merchants do. Of the farmers interviewed 2 3 per cent, said they 
depended on the cotton men to a larger extent than on banks 
or merchants. The cotton factors charge 8 per cent, on money 
lent, and the farmer agrees to sell a certain number of bales through 
the cotton dealer. The farmers relying on merchants for credit 
make up 21 per cent, of the total interviewed. Instead of borrow- 
ing money they buy their supplies on credit, paying up when their 
cotton is sold. The rate of interest is one per cent, a month, or 
12 per cent., if the account runs a year. 

12 This aiul the succeeding percentages are not based on tbe total number of 
tenants, but on those interviewed, altoiit ten in each district. 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 27 

The Negro landowners are to a large extent financed by mer- 
chants. Forty per cent, of them said that they depended largely 
on merchants for credit, although a number of these borrowed 
from banks or cotton factors at times. The banks and cotton 
factors are about equally popular with the Negro landowners, 28 
per cent, borrowing from banks and 2 4 per cent, from cotton deal- 
ers. The Negroes also often buy merchandise other than provisions 
from merchants, on credit, sometimes paying a high rate of interest. 
For instance, the difference between the time and cash price of 
goods is nearly always 10 per cent., and "a cent a month" is often 
charged in addition. 

And the merchants sometimes offer the landowners a certain per 
cent, of the tenant's purchases, in order to get the tenant trade. 
Of course, this extra revenue comes out of the tenant's pocket. 



28 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

CHAPTER III. 
EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS. 



1. Management and supervision of the school system. 

The management of the common schools of Clarke County is in 
the hands of the County Board of Education. This board consists 
of five men, appointed from the county by the Grand Jury. No two 
members can be from the same district, and all must be landowners. 
They are paid $2.00 a day for every day spent in attending to their 
duties as members of the board. It is the duty of the board to 
receive the reports of the County School Superintendent, and the 
monthly reports of the teachers, and pass on them before they are 
sent to the State School Superintendent. They also consider meas- 
ures recommended by the County Superintendent, and in a general 
way have charge of the county school system. 

The County School Superintendent is elected by the people for 
a term of four years, and is paid a salary of $1,095 a year. The 
incidental expenses of the superintendent or "commissioner" are 
also paid. This officer has direct charge of the schools, makes 
contracts with the teachers, supervises their work, and advises 
the county board on school questions. Each school is supposed to 
have three local trustees, who were formerly appointed by the 
county board, but under a new law are elected by the school patrons 
in their respective districts. Several of the schools have failed to 
elect trustees. Under the law, the local trustees recommend teach- 
ers, who are appointed by the County Superintendent, subject to 
the approval of the County Board. A community so desiring may 
have the superintendent appoint a teacher without election, but 
must notify the superintendent to this effect in writing. Teachers 
desiring appointment apply to the superintendent, and present their 
license and recommendations. 

2. Number of schools, white and black, by districts. 
Public schools.! 

Clarke County has 2 8 common schools outside the city of Athens, 
14 for the whites, and the same number for the Negroes. The 
school districts correspond to the militia districts, but there are 
more schools in some of the districts than in others, because of 
the uneven distribution of population. Of the eight militia dis- 
tricts, the Athens district is, of course, best supplied with schools, 
on account of the city school system in Athens, and the presence 
of state and private institutions there. Outside of the city limits, 
there is only one white and one colored school in this district. 

1 The facts and figures in this chapter were obtained from the County School 
Superintendent, from the teachers, patrons, and local trustees, and from per- 
sonal observations by the investigator. 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 29 




30 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

Kinney's District has two white schools, and one colored; Sandy- 
Creek, three white and two colored; Buck Branch, three white 
and three colored; Puryear's, one white and two colored; Georgia 
Factory, one for each race; Princeton, one for the whites, and 
three for the Negroes; and Bradberry's, two white and one Negro 
school. The civil divisions of the county have been indicated on 
the school map, since they coincide with the school districts. From 
this map it will be seen that three of the white and two of the 
colored schools are "county line" schools. This is rather unfor- 
tunate, because pupils from other counties attend these schools, 
and such pupils are not paid for from the Clarke County pro rata 
of the State school fund. The teachers are obliged to look to the 
other county for their remuneration for teaching these children, 
and, as they are not always sure of getting paid, their salary is 
uncertain. One of these county line schools is maintained by 
Clarke because a dozen white children in that school district can 
not attend school anywhere else. Clarke pays the teacher only 
twenty dollars a month. More than half of the pupils are from 
another county. These statements do not apply to the Winterville 
school, which is located in a town. In addition to the schools of 
the county, there are several white and colored schools in other 
counties attended by children from Clarke. And some children at- 
tend school in Athens, but they have to pay for tlie privilege, as the 
city schools are supported by municipal taxation. 

Private schools. 

The only white private school in the county is the mill school 
at Whitehall. A "Model and Training School," colored, in Sandy 
Creek District, gets $500 a year from the Slater Fund. The 
"Normal-Rural," as the model country school on the campus of 
the State Normal School is called, is supported four months of the 
year by the Normal School. These three schools will be described 
later in detail. 

3. Description of schools. 
AVhite. 

Nine of the white schools are one-room schools; but two are 
large enough to be converted into two-room schools, should the 
number of pupils demand it. Three of these schools have cloak 
rooms, and two have porches. Four schoolhouses are two-room 
buildings, and two of these have one cloakroom each, and one has 
two cloakrooms. One of the two-room schools, that at Tuckston, is 
using only one room. The Winterville school has five class rooms 
and a library. All the school buildings are frame structures, and 
all except one are painted, but three need repainting badly. Seven 
of the buildings may be said to be in good repair, six are in fair 
condition, and one is in bad shape. The Winterville school is the 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 



31 



only one provided with artificial lighting, swinging lamps being 
used. Every school room in use is provided with a stove, but the 
Normal Rural has the only jacketed heater in use. Only three 
schools have their interiors painted, but practically all are ceiled. 
Most of the white schools have patent school desks, 200 being in 
use in the county. The other schools have double desks manu- 
factured in Athens. Five schools have wells on the school property, 
but only three are in use. Not being used throughout the year, 
the school wells get in bad condition. One of the schools using 
its own well also gets water from a nearby spring on private prop- 
erty. Nine schools get their water from wells on private property. 
The distance of these wells from the schools varies from 2 00 feet 
to 200 yards. One of these schools also makes use of a spring. 
The Winterville school has a well on the grounds that is covered 
and equipped with a pump. 




Deliipidatecl Negro cluu'cli used as a s<hi)iil. 

There is a great difference in the appearance of the grounds of 
the different schools. The Normal Rural and Tuckston schools 
have school gardens, but the grounds of the latter school were 
ruined by the county's taking top-soil from them to surface the 
road. The Hodges and Bethaven schools have rose bushes planted 
out in the yards, and the Buchanon and Fowler schools have flower 
beds in front of the school buildings. The Princeton school is loca- 



32 



UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 



ted on a steep hillside, and the school property is practically useless 
as a playground. Some of the school grounds present a very bleak 
appearance, not having a shrub or plant on them. With a few 
exceptions, the interiors of the white schools are well decorated 
with pictures, flags, and maps. Four schools have poor blackboard 
facilities. 

Coloretl schools. 

Four of the colored schools are held in churches. These are the 
Billups's Grove, Timothy, Ailenville, and Brooklyn schools. The 
St. James school building is not well suited to school purposes. 
The Mount Sinai and Shiloh schools are held on the first floor of 
lodge buildings. All of the colored schools are one room buildings, 




Negro church, school, mid lodge hall. A social center iu Puryear's District. 

except the Model and Training school, which has three rooms, and 
the Midway school, which has two. Two of the other school build- 
ings are large enough to have partitions put in them. Two of the 
one-room schools have two teachers, and the teachers necessarily 
interfere with each other to some extent. The Model and Training 
and the St. James schools are consolidated schools. The schools 
held in church buildings are the poorest ones in the county. One of 
these buildings is unfinished, and another is in a very dilapidated 
condition. But, with one exception, these schools are the only colo- 
ed schools that are artificially lighted, having swinging lamps, and 
bracket lamps along the walls. The church schools are as un- 
attractive within as they are from the outside. The blackboard 



RURAL SURVEY OP CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 



33 



facilities are wretched, and tlie frame benches are poor substitutes 
for desks. There are no pictures or maps in these scliools, and few 
in most of the others. 

All the schools are heated with unjacketed stoves, some of which 
are in bad condition. The Model and Training school is the only- 
one that has a garden, and flowers and shrubbery in the front yard. 
It is in pleasing contrast with the other schools, whose grounds are 
bare and unattractive. Three of the colored schools are located on 
the edge of a wooded grove, and this helps the appearance of the 
grounds to some extent. Nine schools depend on private wells for 




Type of unimpi-oved School Grounds. (White). 

their water supply; and four get water from springs off the school 
grounds. Two schools have wells, and one of these uses its well. 
Only two of the Negro school buildings are painted. None of the 
colored schools has patent desks, but four have double benches 
made in Athens. Four of the buildings in use are in good condition, 
five in fair, five in bad condition, and three unfit for use as school 
houses. 

Private schools. 

The mill school at Whitehall and the Model and Training school 
may be classed as private schools, although the last named is really 
a county school, which gets funds from other sources. The mill 
school runs for eight months, and Is free to the children of the 



34 



UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 



factory operatives. It is supported by the owners of Georgia 
Factory. The teacher of this school is a high school graduate, who 
has had normal training. The school is held in a church, and the 
enrollment is 4 0. The building is heated by an open fire place, and 
the equipment is rather poor. The church benches are used in 
lieu of desks and the school has no blackboards or maps. This 
school is run to satisfy the mill operatives, who want a school of 

their own. 

The Model and Training school has already been described as 
the best colored rural school in the county. It is also one of the 
best in the state. It is located in a thickly settled Negro district, 
five miles from Athens, on the Danielsville road. One of the three 




Outdoor gymnastic drill. Model and Traiiiiii.g Sdiool. 

rooms is elevated above the level of the others, and sliding doors 
are arranged so that all three rooms may be thrown together, pro- 
viding an auditorium with a stage. The interior of the building is 
painted, and nicely decorated with pictures, maps, and flags. The 
school has a library of over 1,000 books. The school is also 
equipped with an organ, a victrola, and a drum. The four acre^ 
included in the school grounds were included in a tract of land 
bought by the first land club, and were deeded to the county by 
the Negroes. The school house was erected by the General Educa- 
tion Board. In order to get the appropriation from the Slater 
Fund, the school raises the difference when the county does not 
give the school $5 00 a year. This school has been established ten 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 




The "Normal Rural" school oh the campus of the State Normal School in the 

Athens I)istrict. This Model School shows the possiI»ilitles of the one- 

teaclier rural scliool. and serves as an inspiration to tlie county 

teachers and students of tlie Normal School. 




School (hardening at the Normal Rural School. 



36 



UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 



years, and five pupils have finished its course, which goes through 
the eight grammar grades. Two of these are at Hampton, and 
three are teaching. The principal of the school is a graduate of 
Atlanta University, and one of her assistants is a graduate of 
Spellman Seminary, Atlanta. The school is a social center in the 
community, being used as a meeting place for the corn club, and 
for land club meetings. The Fair Association meets in the school 
to raise money for premiums to be awarded at the colored county 
fair. The school gives instruction along industrial lines, not only 
to the pupils, but to the older Negroes as well. There is a parent- 




Pupils of the N(irni,il Ruinl School at lunch. 
teachers association known as the "Industrial Club," but the 
patrons do not give the school the financial aid that they might. 

On the campus of the Normal School is located the only white 
country school in the Athens District. This is a model school, con- 
ducted to show the Normal students what can be done in a one-room, 
one-teacher, rural school. The Normal School pays the expenses 
of this school four months out of the year, and the patrons pay 
five dollars a year for equipment and supplies. The school building 
is fitted out with the most modern equipment. The building is 
lighted by four windows, all on one side of the room, thus elim- 
inating cross-lighting, which gives trouble in so many country 
schools. The school has an oil stove, and a complete outfit for 
cooking and dining. Sometimes the pupils cook dinner during the 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 37 

noon recess, but usually they set the table, and eat their lunches 
In the school room. Those living near the school often go home 
for dinner. Each place at the table has a plate, bread-and-butter 
plate, knife, fork, spoon, tumbler, and napkin. The pupils work in 
shifts, each shift setting the table on certain days in the week. The 
children have a school garden and the grounds are planted out with 
flowers, shrubs, and fruit trees. The children have erected bird 
boxes, which help to get them interested in nature study. The 
seniors at the Normal School observe the lessons taught in this 
school, and sometimes teach classes, but the school is not intended 
as a practice school. 

4. School statistics. 

The State of Georgia appropriates each year $2,500,000 for the 
common schools, which enables them to run five months. This 
fund is prorated among the counties according to population, the 
division between the races being left to the county officials. In 
Clarke County only 33 per cent, of the money used for the rural 
schools goes to the Negro schools, although of the children of 
school age 63 per cent, are Negroes. The salaries paid by the 
county to the white teachers during the year were as follows :- 
To male teachers, $854.20; to female, $4,440. To the Negro 
teachers, male, $67.69; female, $2,615.34. Total for whites, 
$5,294.67; for Negroes, $2,683.03; grand total, $7,977.70. These 
figures do not represent the total salaries paid to teachers, as 
the county pays for only a five months term, and some of the 
schools are supported longer than this by local assistance. Only one 
of the Negro schools runs nine months. The average monthly 
salaries paid the teachers by the county are: white males, $70.00; 
white females, $4 8.20. There are only two white male teachers, one 
of whom is paid $80.00 per month, the other $60.00. The one 
colored male is paid $24.00; the colored female teachers are paid 
an average of $23.4 5. The average monthly cost of tuition, to the 
county, per white pupil, is $2.40; per Negro pupil, $.73. 

The total value of the 14 white school houses is $9,900, an average 
of $707. Three of these are owned by individuals, the average 
value being $400. The county owns only five of the 14 Negro 
school houses, the value being $2,700, or an average of $540. 
Four of the negro schools are owned by individuals, the average 
of these buildings being $200. The remaining five negro schools 
are conducted in church buildings or lodge halls. The following 
table shows the enrollment and average attendance at each school, 
and the number of teachers in the grammar and high school grades: 



38 



UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 




ENROLLMENT 




NEGHOES 



WHITFS 




ATTEMMKCE 




NIGUOES WHITES 

"Popul3Jtlon of School a.ge, 6 to 18 ^edr^. 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 



30 



Table IX.^ 
White Schools. 



School. 


Eiu 


ollmoiit 


Average 




Male. 


Female. 


Attend. 


Winterville 


56 


64 


96 


Buchanon 


18 


11 


18 


Tuckston 


16 


17 


11 


Belmont 


12 


9 


18 


Centerville 


17 


17 


21 


Princeton 


49 


41 


51 


Hinton Brown 


13 


14 


24 


Hodges 


18 


17 


25 


Fowlers 


17 


16 


22 


Normal Rural 


32 


14 


24 


Oconee Heights 


35 


35 


46 


Lamkins 


20 


15 


22 


Barberville 


16 


11 


17 


Bethaven 


6 


6 


9 



, — Teacbers — ^ 
Graniiiiar High School 

(trades Grades 

Male. Female. IMale. Female. 



4 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
2 
1 
1 
1 



Total 



325 



2%\ 



404 



18 



School. 



Table X. 
Colored Schools. 



Eurollmeiit 
iNIale. Female. 



Averaijje 
Attend. 



,, — Teachers — ^ 
Grammar High School . 

Grades Grades 

Male. Female. Male. Female. 



Model & Train. 83 115 81 

Midway 93 96 106 

Oak Grove 22 29 43 

Billups Grove 22 26 32 

St. Lukes 42 48 61 

Mortons Chapel 56 65 65 

Macedonia 30 34 33 

Allenville 28 33 43 

Timothy 13 22 25 

Chestnut Grove 49 68 60 

Brooklyn 25 40 37 

Mt. Sinai 41 31 46 

St. James 82 86 75 

Shiloh 39 50 59 



2 
2 
1 
1 
2 
2 
2 
1 

2 
1 
2 
2 
2 



Total 



625 



743 



730 



22 



2 This table and tal)les X, XI, XII, and XIII were compiled from the County 
Superintendent's report to the State Superintendent. This report is not pub- 
lished in extenso. 



40 



UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 



The next two tables show how the pupils are distributed in the 
grades: 

Table XI. 



School 



White Schools. 

GRADES 
12 3 4 



Winterville 12 16 11 88 

Buchanon 11 4 2 8 

Tuckston 13 4 4 2 

Belmont 4 3 4 

Centerville 11 1 7 8 

Princeton 29 15 10 11 

Hinton Brown 6 5 8 5 

Hodges 10 8 11 2 

Fowlers 10 3 6 4 

Normal Rural 18 7 7 11 

Oconee Heights 16 14 12 15 

Lamkins 8 7 9 7 

Barberville 5 7 8 4 

Bethaven 112 2 



11 

4 
6 
4 
6 
9 
4 
2 
8 



10 



13 12 13 13 11 



1 
10 
1 
2 
1 
3 
3 
4 



Total 



154 92 100 91 67 40 30 14 13 11 



School 



Table XII. 

Colored Schools. 

GRADES 
12 3 4 



10 



Model and Training 69 42 34 29 12 

Midway 48 46 49 18 15 

Oak Grove 12 11 10 10 5 

Billups Grove 25 7 11 3 

St. Lukes 18 20 18 22 5 

Mortons Chapel 56 19 20 18 7 

Macedonia 20 16 15 12 1 

Allenville 30 14 10 7 

Timothy 22 7 14 1 

Chestnut Grove 67 18 12 7 8 

Brooklyn 47 7 4 7 

Mt. Sinai 20 10 8 24 10 

St. James 74 22 14 19 13 

Shiloh 57 18 16 5 3 



13 
3 

2 
4 
1 



Total 385 257 212 185 80 39 8 

Two of the white schools ran nine months, three ran seven 
months, and one six. The other white schools had no local aid and 
ran only for five months, the length of the public or free school 
term. Only one colored school had a term longer than five months, 
and this school's term was nine months. 

The next table gives the number of children of school age, by 
races, in the militia districts of the county. 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 41 







Table Xin. 












School 


Ceii.sus, 


1913. 








Districts 




White 






Negro 




Grand 




Male. Female. Total. 


Male. Female. 


Total. 


Total. 


Athens 


55 


73 


128 


55 


65 


120 


248 


Bradberrys 


31 


38 


69 


77 


71 


148 


217 


Buck Branch 


100 


96 


196 


180 


205 


385 


581 


Kinneys 


62 


59 


121 


101 


90 


191 


312 


Princeton 


57 


45 


102 


56 


84 


140 


242 


Puryears 


22 


20 


42 


125 


125 


250 


292 


Sandy Creek 


37 


34 


71 


109 


124 


233 


304 


Georgia Factory 


79 


91 


170 


49 


46 


95 


265 



Total 443 456 899 752 810 1562 2461 

In Georgia, "school age" means from 6 to 18 years of age. The 
table shows that there are nearly twice as many Negro children of 
school age in the county as tliere are white. The figures for the 
Athens District are for the rural part of that district, outside the 
city limits. Puryear's District has only 4 2 white children of school 
age, and, as a good many of them do not attend school, it is hard 
for the Belmont school to keep going. Some of the people send 
their children to Winterville. 

Comparison of the races with regard to school attendance. 

Of the 899 white children of school age, 638 are enrolled in the 
schools, and the average attendance is 421. Thirty of these chil- 
dren attend school in other counties; of the total, 70.9 per cent, 
are enrolled, and 65.9 of those enrolled is the average attendance. 
Forty-nine and two-tenths per cent, of those enrolled are boys. 
Of the 1562 Negro children, 1381, or 88.4 per cent, are enrolled, 
but the average attendance is only 737, 53.4 per cent, of those 
enrolled. Forty-eight and one-tenth per cent, of those enrolled are 
boys. Eleven of the Negro children attend school outside of the 
county. A large per cent, of the Negro children are enrolled, but 
the white children attend school more regularly than the Negroes. 
The per cent, of negro children enrolled in the schools is remark- 
ably large, and it would seem from the figures that the Negroes 
are more anxious to send their children to school than the whites 
are. The poor attendance on the part of the Negroes is due to the 
fact that their parents need their help on the farm. But this is 
not always the case, for the Negroes do not seem to appreciate the 
value of regular attendance, apparently not understanding that a 
child's schooling does not amount to much when he attends fitfully. 
Some of the white children are probably kept out of school alto- 
gether to work on the farms, but the white people as a whole are 
not as dependent on their children's help as the Negroes. The per- 
centage of white children enrolled in the schools ought to be as 
good as that of the Negro children, if not better. Some children 



42 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

of both races, too small to be of much use at home, are kept out 
of school, but as a rule it is the larger ones, whose help is valuable 
to their parents in working the crops. 

Illiteracy.^ 

Exclusive of the city of Athens, 24.9 per cent, of the population 
of Clarke County, above the age of 10 years, was reported as 
illiterate by the Census of 1910. There are 200 illiterate whites, 
or 9.2 per cent, of the population included in this age group; and 
1306 Negroes, or 34.7 per cent, of those ten years old and over. 
The total number of illiterates in both races was 1506, for the 
entire county. 

5. Funds for support of the schools. 

Lack of funds makes the maintenance of the county school system 
a very difficult matter. The money paid by the state for the com- 
mon schools is not sufficient to pay adequate salaries to the teach- 
ers, and meet other school expenses. Furthermore, this money is 
never paid promptly. Rather than make the teachers >vait months 
for their pay, the county board borrows money and pays them. The 
interest on this money borrowed during the year 1913 was $267.40, 
a sum which would have gone far towards improving the school 
buildings and grounds of some schools. In the days when the 
county sold whiskey through a dispensary at Athens, the school 
system was well maintained, the teachers were paid good salaries, 
and were paid promptly. At the time the dispensary was abolished, 
the county had $13,000 available, not having used all the money 
paid by the state to the county for schools. To run the schools 
with money made from the sale of whiskey was a strange way to 
educate children, but schools cannot be run without money. This 
school fund has been used up, and the schools get no money now 
except from the State, as local tax has been defeated. Two districts 
were in favor of local county tax, but after investigating the matter 
the people of these districts decided against local district tax. The 
state law on local district tax is extremely unsatisfactory. The 
district must elect two officers, a secretary and a treasurer, the 
latter under bond. The district local tax is collected by the county 
tax collector and turned over to the district treasurer. The County 
School Superintendent gives the district treasurer the district's 
share of the county's school fund, and the treasurer pays the teach- 
ers in his district, but the Superintendent controls the schools, as 
in the other districts. The district officers report all corporations 
in their district to the Comptroller General of the State, who col- 
lects the tax on them and sends the money to the treasurer. The 

a The Census of 1900 did not report illiteracy for the County exclusive of 
Athens City, so it is impossible to say how much illiteracy declined in the rural 
part of the' County duriui;- the last ten years. 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 



43 



two district officers have to make a quarterly report to the State 
Superintendent of Schools on the condition of the schools in the 
district. All the treasurer receives for his work is a small per- 
centage of the money handled by him. The districts have not been 
able to find men willing to undertake this work. 

6. High Schools. 

The only high school in the county, outside of Athens, is the 
Winterville school for whites. This school has ten grades, each 
of the five teachers having charge of two grades. All the teachers 




AVhite iluu'ch and 



■licKil on the Lexington road, the line lietween I'nr.vear's 
and Biu-k Branch Districts. 



are college graduates. Besides the pupils from Winterville, this 
school has pupils in attendance from Buck Branch, Georgia Factory, 
and Puryear's Districts, and from Oglethorpe County. Winterville 
is an incorporated town, but there is no municipal school tax levied. 
However, the people of Winterville and the patrons support the 
school very loyally. In order to supplement the school fund so as 
to have a nine months session, scholarships are sold at $ir).00 
apiece. Each patron is supposed to purchase a scholarship for 
every child of his in school. Those unable to do this, pay what 
they can, and the well-to-do people buy extra scholarships. Several 
citizens who have no children in school subscribe for scholarships 
in order to make up the necessary amount. 

The school has a playground of two acres. The school house is 
a frame structure, having six rooms. It needs repainting, and the 



44 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

blinds should be repaired. The rooms are artificially lighted witli 
swinging lamps. All the rooms are fitted Avith patent school desks. 
The school building has been used for school fairs, but the pupils 
hold their public exercises in the town auditorium. The present 
building is too small, and ought to be replaced by a brick structure, 
having a larger seating capacity, and a school auditorium. 

7. Organizations, 

One serious defect in the county schools is the lack of organiza- 
tion among the pupils and patrons. Only one white school reported 
a parent-teachers' association. As a rule, though, every school has 
one trustee who takes an active interest in school affairs, and looks 
after repairs on the schoolhouse. 

8. Facilities for recreation. Libraries. 

Another striking defect is the absence of recreational facilities. 
The Model and Training school and the Normal Rural are the only 
schoools having any play-ground apparatus to speak of. The play- 
grounds of the other schools are woefully lacking in this respect. 
Most of the grounds are either too small or too rough for ball games. 

Six of the white schools have so-called libraries. One teacher of 
a white school having no library lends the children books. The 
Winterville school has a library of 550 books, especially selected 
for the different grades. The Normal Rural has an excellent little 
library of 50 books. The other school libraries range from 12 to 75 
books. One teacher said that her school library was a good one, 
but was not of much use to the school, as most of the pupils were 
in the lower grades, and the books were too advanced for them. 
Only two colored schools have libraries, but one of these is unusual- 
ly well selected. The other consists of 30 books, some of them 
text books. 

9. School rules and regulations. 

The school term of those schools having no local aid begins 
January fourth. In thirteen of the colored schools, and in some of 
the white schools, the session is divided into a winter term of three 
months and a summer one of two. The County Board of Educa- 
tion determines when the summer session of each school shall begin, 
after considering local conditions. The maximum and minimum 
number of pupils in any school is left to the superintendent, but 
no teacher is allowed to enroll more than the maximum number, or 
continue the school after the attendance falls below the minimum, 
usually 20. Each teacher is required to keep a register. Any pupil 
absent from school two consecutive days during any school month, 
except for unavoidable cause, may be suspended. Pupils are not 
allowed to change schools during the term, except with the super- 
intendent's consent. Pupils of school age, living in adjoining 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 45 

counties, may attend a school in Clarlte, provided there is no public 
school in their own county, nearer their residence; but teachers 
have to keep a separate register for their names, and teachers are 
not paid by the Clarke County Board for these pupils. Pupils are 
required to attend the school nearest their residence. Teachers are 
required to open their schools by 9 A. M., sun time, and to engage 
in actual work with their pupils not less than six hours each day. 
Pupils are not allowed to attend school unless they have the nec- 
essary books. Schools houses belonging to the county cannot be 
used for other than school purposes except by permission of the 
board. "Patrons are expected to furnish fuel and other necessary 
articles and supplies for the use of the school, and to make and 
pay for such repairs, as may be needed to schoolhouse or furniture." 

10. Results of the School Questionnaire. 

Most of the information obtained from the questionnaire for 
schools has already been used. One of the objects of this question- 
naire was to find out what preparation the teachers have had for 
their work. Five of the white teachers are college graduates, and 
three are normal graduates. Eight are graduates of high schools, 
and three of these have attended college. Three teachers, not 
high school graduates, have attended normal schools and colleges. 
Three teachers hold high school licenses, or professional certificates; 
eighteen hold general elementary licenses. Eleven teachers have 
attended summer school. The others teach during the summer, 
and hence cannot attend. 

Three of the colored teachers are college graduates, three are 
normal graduates, and nine are graduates of high schools. Two 
reported that they had completed the eight grades of grammar 
school. Six hold general elementary licenses, and eighteen hold 
primary licenses. Four colored teachers have attended summer 
school. 

Another object of the questionnaire was to ascertain the size 
of the school grounds, and what the sanitary conditions at the 
various schools were. One of the white schools has three acres, 
and can get more land when it is needed. Five schools have two 
acres each; seven have an acre apiece, and one has only three- 
fifths of an acre. One of the colored schools has four acres; 
four have two acre grounds; two have one and one-half; two 
have three-fourths of an acre, and one has only half an acre. 
Ten of the white schools have two outhouses, and the other four 
schools have one. Four Negro schools have no outhouses of 
any sort. These schools are held in churches. One negro school 
has a double toilet, consisting of a frail shack with a partition in it, 
and used by both boys and girls. Toilets of this kind work for 



4 6 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

immorality and are worse than none at all.^ Three Negro schools 
have one outhouse, and the remaining four have two each. In the 
case of one white school, the school grounds are so small that the 
toilets are too near the school building. Most of the toilets are not 
kept in a sanitary condition. This statement applies to both the 
white and colored schools. The cause of this neglect may be ascrib- 
ed to the fact that there is no provision for having them looked 
after. In some cases, the teacher hires a man to do this work, and 
at some schools a local trustee has the toilets cleaned. As a rule, 
the school toilets are the poorest type of privies, unpainted, and 
some of them are almost ready to fall down. 

Eight white teachers answered the question about supervised 
play by saying that they did supervise the children's play. This 
means that they stay on the grounds at every recess. Four white 
teachers reported that they played with the children at times, or 
gave occasional supervision. One white teacher suggests new 
games, and directs the play of the children. One white teacher said 
that she supervised the play of the younger children. The Model 
and Training school was the only colored school that reported reg- 
ular supervision. Three colored teachers play with the children, 
particularly the younger ones, and three reported some supervision 
of play. 

On the question of schools as social centers, seven white schools 
reported that the school house was used for some purpose out of 
school hours. The use made of the schools is occasional, not reg- 
ular, being generally for school entertainments to raise money. 
One school building is used as a union meeting house, and one is 
used as a Sunday School. The colored schools housed in churches 
are, of course, used for church and Sunday School purposes. One 
colored school house is used for lodge meetings. 

11. Comments on the school situation. 

The investigator questioned teachers, local trustees, and patrons, 
to learn what criticism they had to make of the schools. Many 
of the colored local trustees said they considered it a mistake to 
divide the short school term, but they did not see any way to avoid 
it, as most of the patrons would take their children out of school 
to help with the spring planting. All of the trustees were in favor 
of having at least seven months school, but most of them thought 
that two of these would have to be the months of .July and August. 
The trustees of those schools held in churches thought that the 
most urgent need was a school building, so that the children could 
have desks instead of benches, and good blackboards. It was point- 
ed out by several trustees that the large, two-teacher schools should 
have a partition put in them. One trustee said that the schools 

■* Weatherford. W. D.. Present Forces in Negrro Progress, p. 122. 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY-, GEORGIA. 4 7 

ought to have better teachers, but that they had fairly good ones, 
considering what the teachers were paid. Another suggested that 
some plan be adopted to keep the teachers from moving from one 
school to another so often. 

The white trustees all said that they considered the school session 
given by the state entirely too short, and a number of them ex- 
pressed the opinion that it was the duty of the patrons to supple- 
ment the school fund, so that every school would have a seven 
months, or, if possible, a nine months, term. Opinion was divided 
as to whether the term would have to be divided into a winter and 
summer session, but the majority was in favor of a continuous 
session. One trustee of a county line school said that each county 
ought to furnish a teacher, or else Clarke ought to furnish two, 
and another room be added to the school house. Two stated that 
the school grounds were too bare and unattractive, and that the 
patrons ought to plant them out in shrubs. These two also said 
that the school houses needed repairs. 

On the whole, it must be admitted that the schools of Clarke 
County, white and black, are inadequate. This is due to the fact 
that the people of the county depend wholly on the state appropria- 
tion for schools, which is insufficient to sustain an effective system. 
In two elections the people of Clarke have refused to authorize local 
taxation for schools. No improvement is to be expected until the 
public conscience on this subject is aroused. An effort was made 
two years ago to introduce the "county unit" idea. Under the 
terms of the proposed arrangement, the administration of the city 
and rural schools was to have been combined, the term in the rural 
sections raised from five to nine months, and other improvements 
made. This scheme was defeated at the polls by the united action 
of property owners in the city of Athens, who disliked the extra 
tax involved, and of country people, who feared they might become 
liable for the educational bonds of Athens. The rural sections, 
furthermore, were opposed to surrendering the control of their 
schools, as was represented to them would be the case should the 
new system be adopted. It is said that even the tenant class oppose 
local taxation for schools, believing that the tax would eventually 
fall on them in the shape of increased rent, a groundless assumption, 
as the landlords are far from being in a position to raise rents 
arbitrarily. 

When the teachers were asked how much cooperation they re- 
ceived from the patrons, very different replies were made. For 
instance, one teacher said, "They cooperate with me as much as 
I have any right to expect; I never ask for anything without getting 
it," while another replied, "The school patrons seem inclined to 
work against me, rather than with me; they do not want their 
children disciplined." Other replies were: "They help me to secure 
regular attendance"; "At times they meet to discuss the school's 



48 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

needs"; "I get some cooperation, but all my pupils are from tenant 
families, and they do not feel any permanent interest in the school." 
All' these replies were made by white teachers. One of the colored 
teachers answered, "The parents do not make the children attend 
school as they should. The attendance falls off most as the end of 
the term approaches." Another said, "No, the patrons do not co- 
operate with me much, except by contributing ten cents a month 
for crayon and other supplies." 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 49 

CHAPTER IV. 
RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. 



A. Religious Conditions. 

1. Number of Churches. 

Active. 

In Clarke County, outside the city of Atliens, there are 17 colored 
and 8 white churches. Of the white churches, two are on the 
county line, and have members living in other counties. As there 
are two white Methodist churches and one white Baptist church 
over the line in other counties, with congregations made up partly 
of people living in Clarke, these were regarded as belonging to 
Clarke, and the county may be said to have eleven white churches. 

Dormant. 

Two colored churches are practically dormant, as one has no regu- 
lar pastor, and only occasional services, while the other has become 
a mission church with only a dozen members. Several of the 
white churches are not gaining in their already small membership. 

Dead. 

There are two dead churches in the county, one white and the 
other colored. The white church died because it was built in a 
community already supplied with churches, and the failure of the 
colored church was due to the fact that it was a "family affair," 
that is to say, was founded by a family of one denomination in a 
settlement made up of people of another denomination. Such 
churches are foredoomed to failure through lack of sustaining 
membership. One white church has within recent years been moved 
over the county line into Madison County. Four white churches 
have died out in Clarke inside of the last twenty-seven years. ^ 
This was probably due to the movement to town which has been 
going on in Georgia, and to the increase of absentee landlordism 
and Negro tenancy in Clarke County. 

3. Churches and population. 

Outside of Athens there is a white church for every 185 persons, 
and a colored church for every 3 08 persons. The white churches 
have a total membership of 1041, and the Negro churches 2486. 
Hence 42.9 per cent, of the whites and 50.4 per cent, of the Negroes 
attend church in the county. Practically all the Negroes claimed 
membership in some church, but when asked where their church 
was located, the investigator would often be told that it was "way 

1 Home and Farmstead, Athens, Ga., Vol. XTI. No. 33, p. 3. 



50 



UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 



down in Oglethorpe." The Negroes are very loath to move their 
membership from one church to another. So when they migrate to 
Clarke from other counties, they keep their membership in the old 
church, and attend services at churches near their new home. One 
clerk of a Negro church was found in another district from that 
in which his church was located, several miles away from the 
church. There were three churches of his denomination nearer 
his home than the one with which he was affiliated. The white 
"mill" churches suffer from the same trouble. One white church 
in a mill settlement was carrying the names of twenty-five persons 










'«^'.*-^ 






|5^ ^- 



Negro Methodist church in Sandy Creek District. 12 members. The membership 
of this church was depleted by emigration to Arljansas and Mississippi. 

on its roll who had moved to another mill and were attending 
another church. 

The figures showing the membership in Clarke County churches, 
by race, are apt to be deceptive unless other factors than number 
and size of churches are considered. Besides being the smallest 
county in Georgia, Clarke has an excellent road system, and both 
whites and Negroes attend church in Athens, as well as in other 
counties. There are a number of both white and colored churches 
in other counties not far from the line of Clarke. The white people, 
especially, attend churches in Bogart, Oconee County; Arnoldsville, 
in Oglethorpe; and in Hull, Madison County. 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 51 

4. Denominations; relative strength. 

The prevailing denomination among the white people is the 
Methodist; and among the colored people, the Baptist. All but 
three of the eleven white churches are Methodist; while fourteen 
of the seventeen colored churches are Baptist. Of the other 
three Negro churches, two are Methodist and one is a Primitive 
Baptist. Eleven of the fourteen Negro Baptist churches are in the 
"Jeruel Association," which supports the Jeruel Academy at Athens. 
The other three Negro Baptist churches in the county are in the 
"Northwestern Association," which contributes money to a Negro 
Industrial school at Monroe, Ga. One of the white Baptist churches 
is in the "Appalachee Association," and the other two are in the 
"Sarepta Association." 

5. Preachers. 

None of the white churches has a pastor on full time. Two of 
them have pastors serving one other church; five have pastors 
serving two others; and four have pastors with three other churches 
under their charge. Of the seventeen colored churches, five have 
pastors on half time; six have pastors serving two other churches, 
or on one-third time; and six have pastors with three other churches 
to look after, or on one-fourth time. In addition to the regular 
preachers, the Negroes have a good many vounteer or lay preachers. 
The colored churches suffer from dissension, which frequently re- 
sults in the secession of part of the members and the forming of 
another church. It will be noticed that while there is a large 
number of colored churches, considering the size and population 
of the county, four have less than a hundred members. Some of 
these should be combined so as to have services three Sundays 
every month, if not four. 

While there is doubtless much foundation for the oft-repeated 
charge that the Negro preachers are lax in their personal morality, 
yet some of the Negro preachers in this county hold a high position 
in their church community, and are landowners, setting their people 
a good example by their thrift. One Negro preacher was found who 
had served his church twenty-five years, and was held in high esteem 
by the members of his congregation. The Negroes show a disposi- 
tion to favor the preacher who can put on the "rousements" and 
get the congregation to a high pitch of emotion. 

6. Church statistics. 

The following tables, obtained from the ministers and secretaries 
of the various organizations, give in succinct form the principal 
facts bearing on the church situation. 



52 



UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 



Table XVI. 
Wliite Churches, Methodist. 



















o 










^ 




■;:- 




2a ■ 


Name of 
Church 


■M 




rr. 


■f. 


' 










o 






0/ 




O -^ 










Oi 


i--i 






V 


'-■J^ 


•- _i 




00 


o 




Ci 


S, 


%l 


.s S 


- S 






^ 


»i^ 


r^A 


'ji 


K&. 


'-^ rf. 


■>:<-. 


Temple 


Pur. 


$800 


30 


50 


$115 


1(3) 




30 


Boggs Chapel 


Kin. 


1,600 


20 


40 


400 


1(2) 


2 


40 


Tuckston 


B. B. 


1,000 


15 


87 




1(1) 




45 


Whitehall 


Ga. F. 


1,100 


35 


75 


125 


1(2) 




40 


Princeton 


Prin. 


1,000 


18 


70 


225 


2(4) 




75 


Winterville 


B. B. 


5,500 


20 


200 


1,100 


2(4) 


2 


100 


Cherokee Corner 


Pur. 


400 


40 


100 


325 


1(2) 




Li 


30 


Prospect 


Kin. 


1,500 


20 


220 


302 


1(2) 




40 






Table XVII. 












Wliite Vh 


urches 


, Baptist. 








Name of 






V- 










o 


Churcli 




^-1 
S 


0) 




\^^ 


'Sf, 


.a .2 






s 


p 


< 




'fi 


11 


.§1 


- 2 
k!3 


Edwards Chapel 


Prin. 


1,200 


10 


66 


$100 


1(3) 




50 


Winterville 


B. B. 


2,290 


28 


198 


225 


1(3) 


2 


100 


Corinth 


Pur. 


600 


27 


55 


125 


1(2) 


1 


35 



Table XVIII. 
Colored Churches, Baptist. 



Is nine of 
("hurch 



5 



o 
o 



Clj 



a tt) 



^■x 



1 
1 



1 
1 
1 



o 
o 



=j.a 



x. 



Central B. B. 1,000 22 200 $25 1 

Shiloh B. B. 800 30 140 175 1 

Morton's Chapel Pur. 1,020 15 400 180 1 

Bethel S. C. 600 20 50 75 1(3) 

New Grove B. B. 1,500 20 237 185 1(2) 

New Shiloh S. C. 700 10 65 140 1 

St. James Kin. 575 Va 180 125 1(2) 

Thankful Prin. 300 20 52 75 2 

Mt. Pleasant Ath. 800 2 160 2 

Billups Grove B. B. 400 1 15 150 1(2) 

Timothy Prin. 100 15 104 150 1 

Chestnut Grove Prin. 1,000 8 163 125 1(2) 

St. Mary's S. C. 1.500 15 150 125 1(3) 

Mt. Sinai -- -- 

* The first figure uiclicates the number of Sundays in the month on which services 

wore lu'ld. The fi.nuro in jtarentliesis shows tlio total number of services held. 



35 
60 
100 
30 
75 
35 
40 
30 
30 
55 
25 
25 
35 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 53 

Table XIX, 
Colored Churches, Methodist. 

















o 








d 








%a 


Xame of 
Church 


•ict. 
erty. 


«3 


3 

.2 


k. 


a bi 




O -3 




Disti 
Prop 


be 
< 


a 


f— 1 






"ga 
^3 


St. Luke's 


Pur. $1,000 


20 


70 


$200 


2(4) 


1 


45 


Johnstown 


S. C. 500 


13 


12 


72 


2(2) 




6 




Primitive Baptist. 










Mount Perry 


S. C. 500 


10 


30 


29 


1 







The social conditions existing in tlie several districts of the 
county are, of course, affected by the distribution of the white and 
Negro population. In the blackest district of the county there is 
only one white school, which is not expected to open next year, and 
all the white churches have died. In this district, as might be 
expected, are located the strongest Baptist and Methodist colored 
churches in the county, and two good colored schools. In the white 
districts the colored churches are weaker, and the schools are not 
as good as where the Negroes are in the majority. Absentee land- 
lordism and tenancy have had the effect of making the rural dis- 
tricts blacker, and this has not helped social conditions among the 
whites. There has been a movement to town among the Negroes, 
but in Clarke County it has been more marked in the case of the 
whites. The tenants on absentee-owned farms are usually Negroes, 
and the movement of the white tenant class to the cotton mills has 
helped to decrease the white rural population. 

The county is sadly deficient in the matter of organized recrea- 
tion. The only social organization among the whites is a Dramatic 
Club at Winterville. The custom of going to Athens every Satur- 
day, except in the spring when the farmers are pushed for time, 
is followed by both races. The trip is a very easy one to make 
from almost every point in the county. Among the negroes, the 
favorite forms of recreation, especially during "laying-by time" are 
"visiting around," fishing and hunting (only in season, according 
to reports), going to Athens and other towns, attending lodge meet- 
ings, school "performances," and baseball games. 

The housing conditions among the Negro tenants, and in some 
cases, among the landowners, are very bad. The Negro tenant 
house seldom has more than four rooms, and usually two or three. 
This means that the families are crowded in many cases, two or 
more persons must occupy one room. Many of the tenant houses 
are built without weatherboarding, and very few are painted. The 



54 



UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 




The old style of Negro cabin, built of hewn logs. This type of house is passing 
out of existence, but many of the "boarded up" tenant houses are little better. 




Common type of Negro tenant house. 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 55 

yards are often littered up with trash, and the sanitary conditions 
leave much to be desired. A very pleasing contrast is offered by 
the homes of the Negro landowners, many of them having well- 
kept premises. But in spite of the difficulties under which the 
Negro tenants labor, they are undoubtedly better off than the rent- 
ing class in town, since they are not crowded together in dirty 
settlements, but have plenty of space and fresh air to offset the 
poor housing conditions. 




Typical home of Negro landowuer iu Saudy Creek District. 

The Negro lodges. 

The lodges having the largest membership among the country 
Negroes in Clarke County are the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, 
United Gospel Aid Society, Good Samaritans, Masonic, and the 
Independent Benevolent Order. The Masonic, Odd Fellows, United 
Gospel Aid, and the "I. B. O." are best represented, most of the 
lodge halls in the county outside of Athens being the property of 
one of these organizations. The members of the other societies 
usually belong to a lodge in Athens. The dues paid per month by 
members depend on the amount of insurance carried, and usually 
range between 25 and 85 cents. The "sick benefits" paid to members 
who are thrown out of work on account of sickness is nearly always 
$3.00 a week, though in a few cases less. Fifty cents a month is 



5 6 



UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 



the amount of dues the Negroes generally pay to carry this in- 
surance. The amount paid by the lodge on the death of a member 
in good standing is $300 in the case of practically all the lodges, 
but this depends on how long the membership has been carried, 
and what dues have been paid. The country lodges are not as 
strong as those in town, for the country Negro is not so conhrmed 
a "joiner" as is the town Negro. The explanation of this is that 
in the country the longer distance which has to be covered at night 
in order to attend a meeting furnishes a serious drawback. Then, 
too, the tenant farmer does not have as much ready money through- 
out the year as the wage earner in town, and finds it harder to pay 
his dues. 




Meeting of the Corn Club at the Model aiul Training Scliool. 

Cooperation among Negroes for acquiring land. 

In 1900 an educated and intelligent colored woman, Mrs. Judia C. 
Jackson Harris, wife of a teacher in the Athens City Schools, in- 
augurated a settlement scheme in Sandy Creek district, which has 
proved a uniquely successful and significant undertaking. Mrs. 
Harris entered a neighborhood of negro renters, none of whom 
owned land or home, and induced a group of them to organize a 
Mutual Benefit Society for the purchase of land and the development 
of a healthy rural settlement. The first club contained ten members. 
They paid in $100 in cash in 1900 and obtained bond for title to a 
tract of forty acres (later increased to fifty-five acres), the purchase 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 57 

price being $350 for the forty acres. In 1908, all payments having 
been made and title having been secured to the land, the tract was 
divided among the members, eacli receiving an amount proportionate 
to the sum he had contributed. 

A second club of seven members was organized in 1903 for the 
purchase of a tract of thirty-two acres at $2 5 per acre. A third 
club, formed in 1906 with seven members, purchased sixty-five acres 
at $23.50 per acre. In both cases the purchase price was paid in 
accordance with the terms agreed upon and a satisfactory division 
of the property made. Two other clubs have since been organized. 
The total amount of land acquired to date is 440 acres, the total 
amount paid out is $3,330. 

A group of landowning farmers has thus been created. The story, 
however, does not end here. Mrs. Harris succeeded in enlisting out- 
side aid and has erected the school already described as the Rural 
Model and Training School, by far the best rural school in the 
county. A model cottage was also built as a residence for the 
originator of the plan. The school and home form the nucleus of 
the community, which has been named "Settlement." Fifteen of 
the new landowners have erected neat homes. The school is well 
supported by the community and now has an enrollment of 244 in 
nine grades. In addition to the regular studies, work is given in 
domestic science and elementary agricultural science. 

The homeowners of Settlement are adapting themselves readily 
to advanced ideas of cooperation in other ways than the buying of 
land. They own a cooperative saw mill, a cotton gin and a thresh- 
ing machine. Both men and boys have been organized into Corn 
Clubs to encourage the development of this important crop, so gen- 
erally neglected by Negroes. 

It would be difficult to overestimate the value of this experiment 
in cooperation. It serves as an inspiration to the county and state. 
The general condition of afffvirs in the community is a powerful 
commentary on the social value of changing shiftless renters to 
responsible landowners. 



58 



UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 



APPENDIX A. 
Table No. 1 . A'alue of Farms and Farm Property, Clarke County, 1910. 

Land $2,444,057 

Land in 1900 627,450 

Buildings 713,245 

Buildings in 1900 271,240 

Implements and machinery 129,595 

Implements and machinery in 1900 48,460 

Domestic animals, poultry, etc 358,116 

Domestic animals, poultry, etc., 1900 110,142 

Per cent, of Value of all Property in: 

Land 67.1 

Buildings l^.Q 

Implements and machinery 3.6 

Domestic animals, poultry, etc 9.7 

Average Values (Number of all farms, 1,382) : 

All property per farm 2,637 

Land and buildings per farm 2,285 

Land per acre 36.40 

Land per acre in 1900 10.23 

Table Xo. 2. Size of Farms. 

Per cent, of all Per cent, of all 

Size of Farms farms operated by farms operated by 

White Farmers Colored Farmers 

19 acres or less 26.7 26.6 

20—49 acres 34.3 49.2 

50 — 99 acres 20.3 17.3 

100 — 174 acres H.l 5.6 

175 — 259 acres 4.2 1.1 

260 — 499 acres 2.0 .2 

500 — 999 acres 1.4 .0 

Table No. 3. Tenure of Farms. 

Per Cent, of All Farms 
Operated by 

White Colored 

Owners 37.6 14.1 

Part owners 7.2 7.7 

Renters 22.8 37.1 

Share tenants 32.4 41.1 

Table No. 4. Value of Live Stock on the Farms. 

Cattle: 

Total Number --- 2,479 

Dairy cows 1.516 

Other cows 224 

Other cattle 1.479 

Value $56,114 

Horses ^^^ 

Value $94,325 

Mules 1.155 

Value $181,035 

Swine 2,177 

Value $15,915 

Sheep 112 



RURAL SURVEY OP CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 59 

Value $484 

Number of poultry of all kinds 18,137 

Value $9^028 

Number of colonies of bees 348 

Value $674 

Table No. 5. Yield and Acreage of Principal Crops. 

Acres Yield 

Corn 9,172 105,100 bushels 

Oats 1,930 34,404 

Wheat 687 6,106 

Rye 20 222 " 

Potatoes 204 19,277 

Hay and forage 3,202 3,698 tons 

Cotton 23,207 9,346 bales 

Dry peas 541 1,897 bushels 

Sorghum cane 56 296 tons 

Table No. 6. Farm Expenses. 

Labor — Farms reporting 564 

Cash expended $59,256 

Rent and board furnished 25,457 

Feed — - Farms reporting 416 

Amount expended $29,243 

Fertilizer — Farms reporting 1,129 

Amount expended $78,855 

APPENDIX B. 

\ 

Some answers to the question, "Opinion as to relative merits of 
wage system, cropping, and renting, from the standpoints of the 
landlord, laborer, and care of land." These answers include all the 
reasons given for preferring one system to the others. 

1. From the landlord's standpoint, the wage system is superior 
to the other two, because it gives him better control of his hands, 
and enables him to keep up his land. We have to depend on crop- 
pers, though, because we cannot get enough wage hands. Crop- 
ping is the best system for the tenant, because it gives him the 
benefit of the landlord's expert knowledge of farming. Land can 
be kept up best under the wage system, and suffers most under the 
renting system. 

2. I believe that cropping is the best system for the landlord, 
because under that system his hands have an interest in the crop 
that wage hands do not have, and hence do better work. As far 
as the tenant is concerned, I don't see much difference in working 
on halves and working for wages, except when the tenant has a 
family. Then, of course, he can make more at cropping, because 
of the help furnished by his family. The wage system keeps up 
the land best. 

3. From every standpoint I think the cropping system is superior 
to the other two. The farm owner has laborers who are interested 
in the crop, and are not trying to kill time. It certainly is best 



60 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

for the tenant, if he has any family to lielp him, because lie makes 
so much more at it. One of my croppers, who has considerable 
help, cleared $700 last year. I can keep my land up as well with 
"halvers" as I can with wage hands. 

4. The wage system is the best one for the landowner. Croppers 
cost him more than wage hands do. And at busy seasons the owner 
can hire the laborer's wife and children as extra hands. The 
laborer certainly makes more out of cropping. It takes wage hands 
to keep land up. 

5. I believe cropping is best for the landlord, the tenant, and 
the land. A tenant working on halves knows that the better the 
crop, the more he will get out of it, and therefore he does better 
work than a wage hand, and does not require such close super- 
vision. The tenant makes better crops under this system than he 
does as a renter. I can tend my land as well with croppers as with 
wage hands. 

6. The landlord can make more out of the half share system, 
provided he can get families who will work. Unless a laborer has 
a family large enough to be of real help to him in the field, he 
will do better to work for wages. Land can be built up faster and 
cared for better with wage hands than with croppers. The cropper 
is interested in the crop, but not in keeping your land up. 

7. From the landlord's standpoint, the cropping system is best 
if he stays on his farm, or is in a position to supervise his tenants 
properly. But the tenant can make more at renting provided he 
is a fairly good manager, and knows something about farming. 
Under the half share system, the better crop he makes, the more 
rent he has to pay, while as a renter he clears everything over the 
specified rent and his expenses. I prefer wage hands from the 
standpoint of taking care of land. 

8. The wage hand system is better for the owner and his land. 
The tenant, of course, makes more out of cropping. I would let 
my land lie fallow before I would rent it. The rent paid hardly 
equals the damage done the land. All my croppers work on halves, 
and they did well last year. None failed to pay up and have some- 
thing besides. 

9. If I could get the wage hands I would not have a cropper on 
my land. The landowner can make more money and take better 
care of his land with hired hands. Cropping is best from the 
laborer's standpoint. 

10. I prefer to work my land with wage hands, but enough of 
them cannot be secured, and I think share tenants are preferable 
to renters. It depends largely on the tenant whether he will make 
more as a renter, share hand or wage hand. One reason I would 
rather have wage hands if I could get them is because the land 
can be improved faster under this system. 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 61 

11. I would do all my farming with wage hands if I could get 
them. The tenant working on halves does better than the wage 
hand or renter, as a rule. Wage hands and croppers are about 
equal when it comes to taking care of land. 

12. From the landlord's standpoint, I think the best plan is to 
rent land to white men, or else work it with negro croppers or wage 
hands. The white tenant does best as a renter, and the Negro 
laborer as a wage hand, except when he has a family large enough 
to help him. I can take care of my land better with croppers than 
with wage hands. 

13. From every standpoint I think cropping is better than rent- 
ing or working land with wage hands. It is the most desirable 
system, since it makes more money for the landlord, and gives the 
tenant a better chance. 

14. If your land is in good condition, and does not have to be 
built up, the cropping system is best for the landlord. Unless he 
has considerable help, the laborer can do better as a wage hand 
than as a cropper or renter. For improving land the wage hand 
system is certainly the best. 

15. The landowner makes more money with wage hands, and 
keeps his land in better condition with wage hands, but the laborer 
makes more out of cropping. 

16. I have not been able to keep my land up with croppers, and 
this year I have only wage hands. The landowner has to put up 
too much against the Negro's labor under the halves plan. The 
tenants make more out of cropping than they do out of renting. 
I prefer the wage hand system to either. 

17. Working croppers is more profitable to the landlord if he 
is raising mostly cotton, but if he is raising other crops and prac- 
ticing rotation, he makes more money with wage hands. If the 
laborer has children old enough to help him in his crop, he does 
better as a cropper than as a wage hand. From the standpoint of 
the care of land, wage hands are better than croppers or renters. 

18. I work my farm altogether with wage hands, because it is 
more profitable than cropping or renting, and because the land can 
be tended best under the wage hand system. The laborers do better 
as wage hands than they do as croppers. 

19. I consider the wage hand system better than cropping or 
renting from every standpoint. 

20. From the standpoints of the landlord and the care of land, 
the wage system is best. From the tenant or laborer's standpoint, 
cropping is the best, because the tenant makes more out of this 
system of tenancy. 

21. The wage system is more profitable to the landlord. The 
tenant, of course, makes more money by working on halves. The 
cropping system is unfair to the landlord. He has to put up too 



62 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA. 

much against the Negro's labor. The landlord, therefore, carries 
the risk. Working wage hands certainly beats cropping, as far as 
keeping up land is concerned. 

22. I prefer the wage system, and think it superior to the others 
from every standpoint. It is the most businesslike way to farm. 

23. Cropping is more profitable to the landlord and the laborer. 
I have been able to take as good care of my land with croppers as 
with wage hands. 

24. From the landlord's standpoint, I don't see much to choose 
between cropping and working wage hands, because the land can be 
kept up under both systems, and both are profitable to the land- 
lord. Both of these systems are certainly to be preferred to renting. 
The laborer makes more money out of cropping than he does by 
working for wages. 

25. From the landlord's standpoint, I think renting is best. 
Under this system the landlord knows what he is going to get for 
his land, and is not bothered with looking after his tenants. And 
the tenants seem to do better as renters. They certainly prefer 
renting to working for wages or on halves. From the standpoint 
of the care of land, cropping is the best system. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Brooks, R. P., A Local Study of the Race Problem. New York: 
Political Science Quarterly, June, 1911. 

The Agrarian Revolution in Georgia, 1863-1912.. University 
of Wisconsin Bulletin No. 639. 

Hart, J. K., Educational Resources of Village and Rural Communi- 
ties. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1913. 

Monahan, A. C, and others. An Educational Survey of a Suburban 
and Rural County. (Montgomery County, Md.) Washington: 
Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Education, No. 32, 1913. 

Murphy, E. G., The Basis of xlscendancy. New York: The Macmillan 
Co., 1909. 
The Present South. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1904. 

Presbyterian Department of Church and Country Life, Wilson, 

W. H., Director. A Rural Survey in Missouri. (No date). 

Ohio Rural Life Survey. "Church Growth and Decline in 

Ohio." (No date). New York Board of Home Missions of the 

Presbyterian Church in the U. S. 
Smith, G. G., Story of Georgia and the Georgia People. Atlanta: 

Franklin Printing and Publishing Co., 1900. 
Stevens, O. B., Georgia Historical and Industrial. Atlanta: Franklin 

Printing and Publishing Co., 1901. 
Strahan, C. M., Athens and Clarke County. Atlanta: Charles P. 

Byrd, 1893. 



RURAL SURVEY OF CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA. 63 

Taft, Anna B., Community Study for Country Districts. New York: 
The Presbyterian Department for Missionary Education, 1912. 

Weatlierford, W. D., Negro Life in tlie Soutli. Nasliville, 1911. 
Present Forces in Negro Progress. Nashville, 1912. 

Woofter, T. J., Jr., Tlie Negroes of Atliens, Georgia. Athens: Bul- 
letin of the University of Georgia, Volume XIV, Number 4, 
1913. (Phelps-Stokes Fellowship Studies, No. 1.) 



I 



AUGUST, 1916 



Bulletin of the University of Georgia 



Vol. XVI 



Number lla 



Peabody School of 
Education 




Phelps-Stokes Studies, No. 3 

School Conditions in Clarke 
County, Georgia 



Entered at the Post Office at Athens, Ga., as Second Class Matter, August 31, 1905. 
under Act of Congress of July 16th, 1904. Issued Monthly by the Uniyerslty. 

Serial Number 266 



D. of D. 
lA'^ 3 1917 



School Conditions in Clarke 
County, Georgia 



WITH 



Special Reference to Negroes 



BY 

M. K. JOHNSON 

Sometime Phelps-Stoke Fellow at the 
University of Georgia 



Phelps-Stokes Studies 
No. 3 

Collected set. 



CONTENTS 

Chancellor's Foreword. 

Chapter 1. 

General Social and Economic Conditions in the County. 

Chapter II, 

General School Conditions in the County. 

Chapter III. 

School Work and School Progress. 

Chapter IV^. 

Tests of General Intelligence and Mental Processes. 



Chancellor's Foreword 



The Phelps-Stokes Fellowship was established for the purposes 
stated in the following resolution: 

"Whereas, Miss Caroline Phelps Stokes in establishing the Phelps- 
Stokes Fund was especially solicitous to assist in improving the 
condition of the negro, and 

"Whereas, It is the conviction of the Trustees that one of the best 
methods of forwarding this purpose is to provide means to enable 
southern youth of broad sympathies to make a scientific study of the 
negro and of his adjustment to American civiilization, 

"Resolved, That twelve thousand five hundred dollars ($12,500) 
be given to the University of Georgia for the permanent endowment 
of a, research fellowship, on the following conditions: 

"1. The University shall appoint annually a Fellow in Sociology, 
for the study of the Negro. He shall pursue advanced studies under 
the direction of the departments of Sociology, Economics, Education 
or History, as may be determined in each case by the Chancellor. 
The Fellowship shall yield $500, and shall, after four years, be 
restricted to graduate students. 

"2. Each Fellow shall prepare a paper or thesis embodying the 
result of his investigations which shall be published by the University 
with assistance from the income of the fund, any surplus remaining 
being applicable to other objects incident to the main purpose of the 
Fellowship. A copy of these resolutions shall be incorporated in 
every publication issued under this foundation. 

"3. The right to make all necessary regulations, not inconsistent 
with the spirit and letter of these resolutions, is given to the Chan- 
cellor and Faculty, but no changes in the conditions of the foundation 
can be made without the mutual consent both of the Trustees of the 
University and of the Phelps-Stokes Fund." 

As will be seen from the title page, this paper by Mr. M. K. 
Johnson is the third study of the/|egroes of Clarke County, Geogria, 
and is mainly directed to the question of schools. A fourth study 
with especial reference to health and housing has been prepared 
by Mr. H. S. O'Kelly and will be ultimately published. The work 
of preparing both the third and fourth studies was carried on under 
the advice of Dr. H. W. Odum, professor of Educational Sociology 
and Rural Education. It is hoped that the results of this study 
may be of value and of service in making our schools more effective. 

The marked difference between the school-advantages of the 
child in communities which give local aid and those which depend 
solely upon the state appropriation is made evident in this study. 
Indeed, a number of the problems and difficulties which our schools 
confront are developed by the statements of this paper. As these 
Phelps-Stokes papers are studies of conditions rather than dis- 
cussions, it is perhaps well to avoid saying much by way of de- 
ducton. 

DAVID C. BARROW. 



School Conditions in Clarke County, Georgia 

CHAPTER I. 

General Social and Economic Conditions 

The Basis of the Chapter. In studying the school and educational con- 
ditions of Clarke County, and especially with reference to Negro Educa- 
tion, it is necessary first to ascertain the general social and economic 
facts and to learn something of the history, standards and ideals of 
the people. This chapter describes briefly some of the conditions obtain- 
ing in Clarke County with the specific purpose in view of providing a 
background for the more careful study of school facts. It will not, 
therefore, be expected that the chapter will deal exhaustively with general 
conditions of life and labor. The greater portion of the facts stated in 
Chapter I can be found in more detail in the Phelps-Stokes Studies at the 
University of Georgia, No. 1, by Mr. T. J. Woofter, Jr., and No. II, by 
Mr. Walter B. Hill. Wherever practicable the facts have been brought 
up to date and made as simple as possible consistent with the purpose of 
the chapter already stated. 

Growth and Distribution of the Population. Clarke County, with an 
area of one hundred and fifteen square miles, more or less, may be called 
one of the average prosperous counties situated in the hill country of 
Northeast Georgia. Its soils are well adapted to an efficient agriculture 
and it is noted for its good top soil roads. Further particulars of road, 
soils, streams, political divisions, and distribution of population may be 
seen from the accompanying maps. Created by the Legislature in 1801 
the county has had a most interesting and distinguished record. It has 
for its county site the city of Athens, a prosperous and cultured city of 
some twenty thousand population. Of special interest are the educational 
facilities. Here are located the University of Georgia, the oldest of the 
state universities, chartered sixteen years before the creation of Clarke 
county itself; the State College of Agriculture; the State Normal School; 
the Lucy Cobb Institute for Girls, and four institutions for Negroes as 
follows: the Knox Institute, the Jeruel Academy, the J. T. Heard "Col- 
lege," and the Anne Smith School; besides an adequate public school 
system for the city. Thus Athens and Clarke County have come to be 
known as the educational center of Georgia, although the rural school 
conditions present a striking contrast to those in the city. There are, 
however, many beginnings of closer relationship between the educational 
institutions of Athens and the open country adjacent. 

The population of Clarke County has grown steadily from the first 
settlers who were attracted by the educational advantages, through the 
influx of slaves who constituted 31 per cent, of the population in 1810 
and fifty per cent in 1850, to the present time when the two populations 
approximate equal numbers. The following table shows the population 
of the county classified by decades. 



TABLE I. 
Showing White and Negro Population of Clarke County by Decades. 





White 1 


Negro 


Year. 


Number. 


Per cent. 


Number. | Per cent. 


1810 


5000 


69. 


2628 


31. 


1820 


5285 


61. 


3482 


39. 


1830 


5438 


54.5 


4738 


45.5 


1840 


5603 


53. 


4919 


47. 


1850 


5513 


50. 


5606 


50. 


1860 


5539 


50. 


5679 


50. 


1870 


6488 


51. 


6453 


49. 


1880 


5315 


45.5 


6388 


54.4 


1890 


7072 


46.6 


8111 


53.4 


1900 


8230 


46.5 


9478 


53.5 


1910 


11502 


49.5 


11767 


50.5 



The next table shows the distribution of both white and negro popula- 
tion in city and county for five decades. 

TABLE II. 
Showing the Rural and Urban Population of Clarke County. 



Athens 


Rural 


Year White 


Negro 


i Total 


White 


Negro 


Total 




No. 


% 


No. % 


No. • % 


No. 


% 


No. 


% 


No. % 


1870 
1880 
1890 
1900 
1910 


2248 
3017 
4715 
5055 
8612 


57. 

50. 

54. 

49.3 

51. 


1679 
3011 
3924 
5190 
6316 


43. 

50. 

46. 

50.7 

49. 


3927 

6028 

8639 

10245 

14928 


30.3 
51.5 
56.9 
57.6 
64.1 


4240 
2296 
2357 
3265 
2890 


47.1 

40.7 
34.5 
44.6 
34.7 


4774 
3377 
4187 
4288 
5451 


52.9 
59.3 
65.5 
55.4 
65.3 


9014 
5673 
6544 
7553 
8341 


67.7 
48.5 
43.1 
42.4 
35.9 



As seen from this table, the rural population outnumbered the urban 
until 1875 when Oconee County received part of Clarke. Since that time 
the urban has outnumbered the rural and in 1910 the urban population 
was 64.1 per cent, of the whole. In 1870 the negro population of Athens 
was 43. per cent, of the population of the city. By 1880 the whites and 
negroes were about equally divided and there has been little variation 
since. In the rural section the negroes have outnumbered the whites 
continuously since the war. To show further the distribution of the rural 
population, the following table which shows the number of inhabitants 
in each of the militia districts in the county is inserted. 

TABLE III. 

Showing the Population of Militia Districts by Race. 









White 1 


Negro 


G. M. 


Areas sq. 


mi. Name of Dist. 


No. 


% 


No. 


% 


215 


10.4 


Athens 


9080 


57. 


6837 


43. 


217 


9.27 


Ga. Factory 


363 


52. 


332 


48. 


218 


23. 


Puryear's 


193 


18. 


872 


82. 


220 


22.5 


Buck Branch 


646 


32. 


1337 


68. 


241 


13.6 


Bradberry's 


331 


43. 


427 


57. 


1347 


14.2 


Kinney's 


315 


35. 


584 


65. 


1467 


6.5 


Princeton 


318 


43. 


434 


57. 


219 


15.9 


Sandy Creek 


256 


21.3 


944 


78.7 




From Study Ko. 2. 



As seen from this table, there are only two districts in the county in 
which the white population exceeds the negro, namely, the Athens district 
and the Georgia Factory. In the case of the former, the whites outnumber 
the negroes in the city. At Georgia Factory, there is a cotton factory 
employing only white operatives. The factory town of Whitehall has 230 
inhabitants. Princeton district has two small cotton mills employing 
white operatives, but these settlements are more than offset by negro 
settlements at Allenville and Chestnut Grove. Buck Branch district has 
two white settlements, one at Tuckston and one at Winterville, but Win- 
terville also has a large negro population. But to offset these, the negro 
settlements at a fertilizer plant just outside Athens makes the negro 
population twice as great as the white. 

General Social and Economic Conditions, First, the conditions in Ath- 
ens will be described and the first item discussed will be that of property. 
The more industrious and stable element of the negro population is ac- 
quiring property. In the city many ^groes own homes and some own 
their places of business and others to be rented. There are a number of 
individuals who are conspicuously prosperous, although the average prop- 
erty owned is about the same as for most Georgia towns. As seen from 
the figures given the average holding is $407.00, and of the total number 
of negro taxpayers, 618 or eighty-nine per cent, pay taxes on less than 
one thousand dollars worth of property. The following table will show 
further distribution of the taxpayers among the negroes, the total number 
being 12.9 per cent, of the negro population. 

TABLE IV, 
Negro Holdings Classified According to Value. 

1 Holding between $15,000 and $20,000 

" " 5,000 " 15,000 

14 " " 2,000 " 5,000 

48 " " 1,000 " 2,000 

618 " less than 1,000 

Health and Housing in Athens, There are in the city niany well kept 
negro homes that reflect credit upon the inmates whether they be owners 
or renters. But the majority of the houses occupied by negroes are 
scarcely fit for social habitation. Too often filthy within and without, 
with unkempt yards and outhouses, they reflect much of the unfavorable 
conditions under which the Itegroes live. The houses too often have leaky 
roofs as well as cracks in the walls which let in the wind and rain. Gen- 
erally the rented houses contain one or two rooms, some, three or four, 
and very few, more than four rooms. In the case of the three and four- 
room houses one of the rooms is generally used for a cook room and 
storage room, thus leaving only two or three rooms to be occupied by the 
family. Cases were reported in which fifteen persons occupied three 
I'ooms and eleven occupied two rooms. The average number, however, 
of the occupants per room, out of 1018 cases reported was 1.32. The 
following table gives an idea of the large number of extreme cases. 



Health ami llousini; ( "oiiilitiiuis in Athens liave liccn stnilied by the fourth I'help.s- 
Stokes fellow. 

8 



TABLE V. 

Rooms Occupied by Negro Families. 

Families Rooms in house 

148 living in 1 room 

517 " •' 2 

3 
" . 4 

5 
6 



313 

156 

43 

27 

9 

11 



over t 

With crowded conditions in the homes and witli home located in in- 
ferior sections of the city and crowded close together it is not likely that 
children will grow up with a very strong sense of personal morality. So 
long as white landlords provide tenants with no better living quarters 
conditions are certain to remain in a large measure as they are at present. 

Employment in Athens. Before the war, most of the negroes were 
domestic servants. There were a few in such skilled trades as barber, 
carpenter, and blacksmith. After they were freed there was a tendency 
to turn away from domestic service and turn to the trades, and as a result 
many negroes enjoyed profitable employment. But on account of com- 
petition from the whites, lack of industry, and other conditions, the 
negroes are fast losing their hold on the better class of employments, and 
are forced to' work, to a great extent, as common laborers. The following 
table shows the results of 2 94 6 cases investigated. 

TABLE VI. ' 



Negroes 


Over 


18 Years 


of Age in Gainful Occupations 


• 


Sex 






Employed Unemployed 

No. 1 % i No. i % 


Alaie . . . 






937 
1072 
2009 


88 
73 
79 


125 
384 
509 


12 


Female 
Total . . 


• 


• 


27 
21 



The number of females employed outnumber the males, but there were 
enumerated in the 1910 census more females in the city than males. Also 
of the number of females reported as employed, 63 7 were washerwomen, 
some of whom did not have steady employment, and were not forced to 
be away from home much of the time. 

The table below shows the distribution of negroes by occupations. 

TABLE VII. 

Distribution of Occupation Among Athens Negroes. 



1 Professions 
Distribu- | or 
tion 1 Business 


Clerical 
Work 


Skilled 
Trades 


Domestic 
Service 


Unskilled 
Labor 


Total 


1 % 
.Vumber i 108 

Per cent. | 5 


18 
1 


181 1102 
8 51 


764 
35 


2173 
100 




I 



From Study No. 2. 



10 



As seen from the above table only fourteen per cent, of tlie^iegroes re- 
ported employed are engaged in the better occupations, as commonly con- 
sidered. Domestic service is a most profitable field for them in Athens 
due to the large number of students, dormitories and boarding houses in 
Athens as well as a large population employing ample service. 

Social Organizations and Recreation. Outside the Church, the center 
o^ Negro social life, and the Lodge, a close competitor at times, there are 
comparatively few social organizations and places of recreation. With the 
exception of one motion picture house, where also are given occasional 
vaudeville performances, and a few dance halls, together with unorganized 
and questionable places of amusements, the Church and Lodge represent 
the great part of ^egro meeting places, outside the home and school. 
Among the Churches the Baptists predominate in number with Methodists, 
Congregational and Episcopal following, together with certain of the 
'sanctified" organizatians. Among the Lodges the Good Samaritans pre- 
dominate with seven lodges and the Odd Fellows, Masons, Knights of 
Pythias, Gospel Pilgrims, Ancient Knights, Independent Benevolent Order, 
Magnolias, and others following. Both Church and Fraternal Order are 
well organized and prosperous, being housed in good buildings and ex- 
pending considerable amount of the people's money. 

General Social Conditions in the Rural Districts. In the country dis- 
tricts the great majority of negroes will be found engaged in agricultural 
labor, some owning farms, some renting, some "halving," and some on 
the wage scale. As in the city, the best negroes in the rural districts are 
acquiring property and developing some thrift. The following table will 
show the distribution of such property. 

TABLE VIII. 

Showing Negro Holdings in Rural Clarke County. 

Vehicles Property not 

Land Live stock (Buggies, wagons) enumerated 

Value $149,260 $69,005 $235 $1,000 

Per cent. 10.8 30.3 0.7 1.9 

The next table shows the tenure of farms, 1900 and 1910. 

TABLE IX. 

Showing Farm Tenure of White and Negro Farmers. 

1900. 





Total 


Owners 


Part owners | 


Reu 


ters 


Shares tenants 




Farms 


No. % 


No. 


% 1 


Xo. 


% 


No. 


% 


White 


344 


147 


42.7 


25 


7.5 


101 


29.3 


71 


20.6 


Negro 


480 


79 


16.6 


32 
1910 


6.7 


200 


42.1 


164 


34.5 


White 


470 


177 


37.6 


34 


7.2 


107 


22.8 


152 


32.3 


Negro 


912 


128 


14. 


70 


7.6 


336 


36.8 


378 


41.4 



The table shows that more people, white and colored, owned their 
farms in 1900 than in 1910, the per cent, of the farms owned in 1910 
being less than in 1900 for both races. The number partly owning their 



11 




\ 



From riiflps-Stokes Study, Xo. 2. 



12 



farms increased also, but the per cent, of partly owned farms was about 
the same as in 1900. The number of renters greatly increased also in 
number over 1900, but the per cent, of the total of farms rented was 
less in 1910 than in 1900. There was a large increase both in number 
and in per cent, of the total working on the share tenant system. 

When a man is hired on the wage system, he is directly under the 
supervision of the owner or his manager. In the share system the owner 
furnishes the land and all farming implements and pays half the fertilizer 
bill. The tenant pays the other half of the fertilizer bill and furnishes 
the labor. The owner and tenant share equally in the profits. There are 
modifications in the above system in some instances, but the one outlined 
is the one most commonly found. A renter pays either in cash or gives 
so much lint cotton, generally about two bales, for a farm. He has to 
furnish all implemetns and all other things necessary to make the crop. 
Aside from his cash rental, he receives all the profits. 

The ftegroes on the farms do not, as a rule have better houses to live 
in than those in the city, but they have this advantage, that they are not 
so closely crowded together. There are no health statistics available, but 
it is believed the negroes in the country districts are in better physical 
condition than the ^groes in the closely crowded city houses. 

As in the city, there are few organizations for social purposes other 
than the churches and lodges. The country churches are well attended. 
The lodges are not so numerous as in the city, and often ^egroes in the 
country attend the lodges in Athens. 



1 See Phelps-Stokes Studies, Numbers 1 and 2 at the University of Georgia, for 
careful studies of social and economic conditions in Athens and Clarlte County. 

13 





Twii r.\ pes — The one passing' and the other conininn. 
(Photos Coiu'tesy of Study .\o. I.i 



14 



CHAPTER II 

General School Conditions 

The Basis of the Chapter. This chapter purposes to present briefly the 
principal facts relating to the general school system, the school popula- 
tion, the enrollment and attendance, the physical conditions as represent- 
ed in buildings and grounds, the teaching force, and something of the 
finances involved in the public school administration of Clarke County. 
These facts are presented as the physical basis upon which the subsequent 
studies of school progress and mental tests have been prosecuted. The 
data included in the chapter were gathered carefully by the Phelps-Stokes 
fellow from the school census, the superintendent's reports, and from any 
other available sources. Practical efforts were made to see that all 
figures approximate accuracy and reliability. 

School Systems in Clarke County. The management of the public 

schools of Clarke County is vested in two separate boards of education, 

similar to the regular system of town and county in Georgia- where the 

county unit system does not obtain: the city schools under the direction 

of a city board of ten, and the rural schools under the direction of a 

county board of five. The city board members are elected two from 
each ward and two from the city at large, the mayor being ex-officio 

member. The board, organized into committees on finance, salaries, sup- 
plies, buildings and property, grievances, rules and laws, examinations, 
sanitation, and library, has general supervision of all public school busi- 
ness in the city. The further organization of the city schools is repre- 
sented by the superintendent, principal, teachers and patrons. 

The members of the county board of education are appointed by the 
grand jury, and must be freeholders, no two to be from the same militia 
district, and no member to be elected from the local city school district. 

The further organization of the county schools is vested in a county 
superintendent of schools elected by the people for a term of four years 
who has the supervision of all county schools, through their principals 
and each has three local trustees elected by the local school patrons. 

The School Population. The tables below show the number of children 
enumerated in the school census of 1913 in Clarke County. School age 
in Georgia means from 6 to 18 years of age. These tables were com- 
puted from the census made by the city and county school authorities in 
compliance with a law that required a school census every five years. 
The final table shows the school population of Athens, classified by sex, 
race, and ward. 

TABLE X. 
School Population of Athens. 



White 


Negro 


Ward 


Male 

No. % 


E'emale 

No. % 


TotaJ 
No. % 


Male 

No. % 


Female 

No. % 


Total 
No. % 


Grjnd 
Tola! 


I- 
II. 

III. 

IV. 

Total 


242 
173 
175 
430 
1020 


47.6 
48.6 
47.4 
50.7 
48.9 


269 
185 
194 
417 
1065 


52.4 
51.4 
52.6 
49.3 
51.1 


511 
358 
369 
847 
2085 


46.8 
82.6 
41.6 
66.8 
56.6 


263 
35 
233 
205 
736 


45.1 
46.7 
45.0 
48.7 
46.1 


318 
40 
285 
216 
859 


54.9 
53.3 
55.0 
51.3 
53.9 


581 

75 

518 

421 

1595 


53.2 
17.4 
58.4 
33.2 
43.4 


1092 

433 

887 

1268 

3680 



15 




« 



From Study No. 2. 



16 



This table shows that there are more girls of both races in the city 
than there are boys. The whites number 1020 males and 1065 females, 
or 48.9 per cent, males and 51.1 per cent, females. The j^egroes number 
736 males and 859 females, or 46.1 per cent, males and 53.9 per cent, 
females. The total number of children enumerated in the city, whites 
and negroes is 3680, of whom 2085, or 56.6 per cent, are white and 1595 
or 43.4 per cent, are negroes. The next table gives the classified school 
population of the rural districts. 

TABLE XI. 
Clarke County Rural Scliool Population. 



White 


Negro 


DISTRICT 


Male 

No. -To 


Female 

No. % 


Total 

No. % 


Male 

No. % 


Female 

No. % 


Total 

No. % 


Grand 
Tola! 


Athens 
Bradberry's 
Buck Branch 
Kenney's 
Princeton 
Puryear's 
Sandy Creek 
Ga. Factory 


55 
31 

100 
62 

57 
22 
37 
79 


40.6 
44.5 
51.0 
51.0 
55.8 
51.0 
52.1 
46.5 


73 
38 
96 
59 
45 
20 
34 
91 


59.4 
55.1 
49.0 
49.0 
44.2 
49.0 
47.9 
53.5 


128 

69 

196 

121 

102 

42 

71 

170 


51.6 
31.8 
33.8 
38.8 
43.0 
14.4 
25.4 
64.1 


55 

77 
180 
101 

56 
125 
109 

49 


45.9 
52.0 
46.8 
53.0 
40.0 
50.0 
47.8 
51.6 


65 

71 

205 

90 

84 

125 

124 

46 


54.1 
48.0 
53.2 
47.0 
60.0 
50.0 
52.2 
48.4 


120 48.4 
148 68.2 
385 66.2 
191 61.2 
140 57.0 
250 85.6 
233 76.6 
95 35.9 


248 
217 
581 
312 
242 
292 
304 
265 


Total 


443 


49.3 


456 


50.7 


899 


36. 6j 


|752 


48.2 


810 


51.8 1562|63.4| 


2461 



In the rural districts of Clarke County the females of school age also 
outnumber the males. Of the number enumerated, the white males are 
443, or 49.3 per cent, and the white females are 456 or 50.7 per cent. 
The negro males are 757 or 48.2 per cent., and the negro females are 
810 or 51.8 per cent. 

The total of all children in the country districts, white and negro, is 
2461, of whom the whites number 899 or 36.6 per cent, and the negroes 
number 1562 or 63.4 per cent. Further particulars of the totals may be 
seen in the following table. 

TABLE XII. 
Total School Population of County, City of Athens and Rural. 



White 


Negro 


Male 

No. % 


Female 

No. % 


Total 

No. % 


Male 

No. % 


Female 

No. % 


Total Grand 
No. % Total 


City 1020148. 9|1065|51.1 
Rural 443 49. 3| 456|50.7 


2085|56.6 
899|36.6 


736146.1 

752|48.2 


859|53.9 
810|51.8 


1595 43.4 
1562 63.4 


3680 
2461 


Total |1463|49.1 


1521|50.9 


2984|48.5 


1488|47.2 


1669|52.8 


3157 51.5 


6141 



Table XIII, which shows the totals of tables XI and XII shows that the 
females are more numerous than the males in the entire county, for both 
races. It shows also that of a grand total of 6141 children of school age, 
there are 2984 white children, or 48.5 per cent., and 3157 ^egro children, 
or 51.5 per cent., the majority of white school age being one per cent, 
larger than of the entire population of the county. 

Enrollment and Attendance. There are six white schools maintained 
in the city of Athens. Table XVI shows the enrollment and average at- 
tendance in each of these schools. As seen from the table, there are en- 

17 



rolled in the public white schools 1723 pupils. This is an enrollment of 
82.6 per cent, of all children of school age in the city. The average 
attendance is shown to be 7 7.3 per cent, of those enrolled. 

TABLE XIII. 

Eni-ollment and Average Attendance, Wliite City Schools. 



Enrollment 


Average Daily Attendance 


Name of 
School 


Male 

No. % 


Female 

No. % 


Total 


1 Male 
' No. % 


Female 

No. % 


Total \\ ^ 

No. 11 '7" 


College Ave. 
Meigs St. 
Baxter St. 
High School 
Nantahala Ave. 
Oconee St. 


235 
148 
148 
130 
93 
108 


47.2 
53.2 
50.5 
50.5 
51.3 
48.8 


262 
130 
144 
124 
88 
113 


52.8 
46.8 
49.5 
49.5 
48.7 
51.2 


497 
278 
292 
254 
181 
221 


179 
125 
120 
112 
60 
76 


46.7 
56.4 
50.0 
50.0 
52.1 
50.0 


205 

98 

120 

110 

55 

75 


53.3 
43.6 
50.0 
50.0 
47.9 
50.0 


384 
223 
240 
222 
115 
151 


77.2 
80.2 
82.2 
87.4 
63.5 
68.3 


Total i 82 6|50.0 


861 


50.0 


1723] 


1 672 


50.3 


663 


49.7|1335| 


77.3 



Table XIV shows the enrollment and average daily attendance in each 
of the four negro schools maintained in the city. The table shows that 
the 1180 enrolled constitute 74.0 per cent of all negro children in the 
city. The average daily attendance is 66.5 per cent of the enrollment. 

TABLE XIV. 

Enrollment and Average Attendance, Negro City Scliools. 



Enrollment 


Average Daily Attendance 


Name of School 


Male Female Total 
No. % No. <^/o : No. 


Male 

No. % 


Female 

No. % 


Total 
No. 


9fc 


West Athens 
East Athens 
Newtown 
Reese Street 


101 

166 

95 

161 


45.7 120 
45.9 196 
45.5 114 
41.5 227 


54.3 
54.1 
54.5 
58.5 


221 
362 
209 
388 


1 65 
1 105 
1 51 
1 116 


43.4 
43.2 
45.2 
42.5 


84 56.4 
138 56.8 

62 54.8 
164 57.5 


149 67.4 
243 67.1 
113 54.1 
280. 74.7 


Total 


523 


44.4 657 


55.6 


118011 337|43.0 


448 57.0 


785. 66.5 



These tables show that the average attendance is low for both races in 
the city schools. This low attendance was caused in part by epidemics 
and contagious diseases. There is no regular inspection of schools by a 
health officer, and it is difficult to keep pupils with contagious diseases 
from coming into contact with and spreading the disease to other pupils. 
The city superintendent says in his report, "It is very discouraging to 
teachers to have to run schools for nearly half the year with from 10 to 
35 per cent, of the pupils absent on account of quarantine." 

Table XV shows the enrollment and average daily attendance of the 
white rural schools. There are enrolled 608 pupils, and the average daily 
attendance is 66.4 per cent, of those enrolled. Table XVI shows that the 
enrollment in the negro rural schools is 13 68, but the average attendance 
is only 53.3 per cent, of the enrollment. 



18 




Xejjrro cliiirch I'spil as a scliool. 




Xe.iii-o (■linr( li. sclionl. and Imluv ball. A social center in l'nrycai''s I>isli-ict. 



19 



TABLE XV. 
Total Enrollment and Attendance Wliite Rural. 





Malp 


Feiiisiip 








Name of School 


No. 


% 1 


No. 


% 


Total 


Ave. Attendance 


Winterville 


56 


46.7 


64 


53.3 


120 


96 


80. 


Tuckston 


34 


54.8 


28 


45.2 


62 


29 




Belmont 


12 


57.1 


9 


48.9 


21 


18 


85.7 


Centerville 


17 


50.0 


17 


50.0 


34 


21 


61. S 


Princeton 


49 


54.5 


41 


45.5 


90 


51 


58.4 


}linton Brown 


13 


48.2 


14 


51.8 


27 


24 


88.8 


Hodges 


18 


51.4 


17 


48.6 


35 


25 


71.4 


Fowler's 


17 


51.5 


16 


48.5 


33 


22 


66.6 


Normal Rural 


32 


69.9 


14 


30.1 


46 


24 


52.2 


Oconee Heights 


35 


50.0 


35 


50.0 


70 


46 


65.7 


Lampkin's 


20 


57.1 


15 


42.9 


• 35 


22 


62.9 


Barberville 


16 


59.3 


11 


40.3 


27 


17 


63.5 


Bethaven 


6 


50.0 


6 


50.0 


12 


9 


75. 


Total 


325 


51.1 


283 


48.9 


608 


404 


66.4 



The next table gives the attendance and enrollment for the negro 
county schools, revealing some remarkably low percentages. During the 
last weeks of school the percentage of attendance often falls to twenty-five 
or thirty. The variation among the different schools may be seen from 
a careful examination of table XVII. 

TABLE XVI. 

Enrollment and Average Attendance, Negi'o Rui'al. 





Male 


Female 


Total 


Ave. Attendance 




No. 


% 


No. 


% 


No. 


) No. 


% 


Model and Training 


83 


41.9 


115 


58.1 


198 


81 


40.9 


Midway 


93 


49.2 


96 


50.8 


189 


106 


56.0 


Oak Grove 


22 


43.2 


29 


56.8 


51 


43 


84.4 


Billups' Grove 


22 


45.8 


26 


54.2 


48 


32 


66.6 


St. Luke 


42 


46.7 


48 


53.3 


90 


61 


67.7 


Morton's Chapel 


56 


46.3 


65 


53.7 


121 


65 


53.1 


Macedonia 


30 


49.9 


34 


53.1 


64 


33 


51.6 


Allenville 


28 


45.9 


33 


54.1 


61 


43 


70.4 


Timothy 


13 


37.4 


22 


62.9 


35 


25 


71.5 


Chestnut Grove 


49 


42.7 


68 


57.3 


117 


60 


51.2 


Brooklyn 


25 


38.5 


40 


61.5 


65 


37 


56.9 


Mt. Sinai 


41 


56.9 


31 


43.1 


.■J^ 


46 


63.9 


St. James 


82 


48.8 


86 


51.2 


168 


\^ 


44.6 


Shiloh 


39 


43.8 


50 


56.2 


89 


^9 


66.3 


Total 


625 


46.7 


743 


54.3 


1368 


730 


53.3 



The poor attendance in the country schools is due to a number of 
causes, chief among which is the fact that the farmers take their children 
out of school to work in the crops. Both races are dependent to a certain 
extent on the help of their children, but the ^egroes more so at certain 
seasons of the year. It is a frequent thing for a country school to have 
Its seating capacity taxed to tlie limit in the winter months, but so soon 
as work is started in the fields the benches are emptied. The investigator 
visited a school in April; examination of its record book showed that there 
had been enrolled 96 pupils in January and February, but in April, there 

20 



were present in school 2 pupils. When asked the reason why so many 
were absent, the teacher replied, that the children had stopped school to 
work on the farm. 

Another cause of poor attendance for at least a part of the year was 
the fear of a smallpox epidemic. The county school superintendent closed 
some of the negro schools temporarily, and there was a marked falling 
off in attendance in the other schools for awhile. Perhaps the children 
are not properly encouraged by their parents to attend regularly. They 
do not seem to be aware of the value of regular attendance, and certain 
it is that in some cases called to the attention of the investigator, children 
were allowed to stay away from school on very slight pretexts. 

Table XVII is a summary of the school population, of the enrollment 
in all the schools and of the average attendance. 



TABLE XVII. 

Summary of School Census, Enrollment and Average Attendance. 



Enumerated 


Enrolled 


Av.Allendance 


Athens 


Male 

No. % 


Female 

No. % 


Total 


Male 

No. % 


Female 

No. % 


Total 
No. % 


No. % 


White |1020 
Negro 1 736 
Rural j 
White 1 443 
Negro 1 752 


49.0 
46.8 

49.3 

48.8 


1065 
859 

456 
810 


51.0 
53.2 

50.7 
51.2 


2085 
1595 

899 
1562 


862 
523 

325 
625 


50.0 
44.4 

53.5 

45.7 


861 
657 

283 
743 


50.0 
55.6 

46.5 
54.3 


1723 
1180 

608 
1368 


82.6 
74.0 

67.4 
86.9 


1335 
785 

404 
730 


77.3 
66.5 

66.4 
53.3 



The white children in the city of school age number 2085. Of these, 
there are enrolled 1723, or 82.6 per cent. Of those enrolled, the average 
attendance is 77.3 per cent. There are in the city 1595 negro children of 
school age. Of this number there are enrolled 1180, or 74.0 per cent. 
The average attendance is 66.5 per cent, of the enrollment. 

In the country there are 889 white children of school age, and 608 or 
67.4 per cent, are enrolled. The average attendance is 66.4 per cent, of 
the enrollment. There are 15 62 )\egro children of school age. Of this 
number 1368 are enrolled, or 86.9 per cent. The average attendance is 
only 53.3 per cent, of the enrollment. If the percentages are worked on 
the whole number of J^egro pupils in the county it is seen that 46.9 per 
cent, of the negroes attend regularly. 

Buildings, Grounds and Equipment. There are in Athens six school 
buildings for whites and four for negroes. There is one high school for 
each race. In the matter of buildings, Athens is well equipped at present. 
In January of 1915 there was opened the Athens High School for white 
children, and the occupying of this building relieved crowding that had 
been prevalent previously. All the buildings are supplied with patent 
desks and blackboards and are amply heated. 

The schools occupied by the )\egroes are well constructed frame build- 
ings; all have patent desks, and blackboards. The High School, having 
brick foundations and basement, is steam heated and electric lighted. The 
other buildings are heated with stoves. Prior to the opening of school in 

21 



the fall of 1914 there were only three school buildings for negroes, but 
the new High School building opened at that time relieved congestion 
somewhat, although they are still forced to hold double daily sessions in 
the lower grades. One part of the children come at 9 o'clock and remain 
until 11:30, when they are dismissed and the other part is admitted until 
2 o'clock. 

The High School for Xegroes has 8 rooms for the regular school work, 
and a basement in which manual training is conducted. On the school lot 
is also a small two-room building in which is taught domestic science. 
The High School physics department has a small collection of apparatus 
for conducting simple experiments in physics. The domestic science de- 
partment is supplied with stoves and receives $4.00 per month with which 
to buy foodstuffs for use in that department. 

The West Athens school for )jegroes is a six-room frame house, with 
patent desks and is heated with stoves. It is a fairly good school building. 

The East Athens school was a good building when it was built, but at 
present repairs are badly needed both within and without. 

The Newtown school is a serviceable and rather comfortable four-room 
building. Cuts of these schools will give a general idea of their character. 

table' XVIII. 

Description of IJuildings, White Schools, Rural. 





No. ol Rooms 


Cloak 
Room 


Painted 


Desks 


Play 

Grounds 


Location 


Flower 
Garden 


General 
Condition 




1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


>• 


Z 


>- 


o 
Z 




Z 


J 


o 
o 

a. 


o 

O 

O 


o 

o 


>- 


o 
Z 


i 


CQ 


Winterville 










* 


* 




* 




* 




* 




* 






* 


* 




Jackston 




* 








* 




* 




* 






* 


* 




* 

1 


* 




Belmont 


* 










* 




* 






* 


* 






* 


* 


* 




Centerville 




* 










* 


* 




;l: 




* 






* 


1 * 




* 


Princeton 




* 










* 


* 




* 






* 




* 


* 


* 




Hinton Brown 


* 












* 


* 




* 




* 




* 




* 1 * 

1 




Hodge's 


* 












S|-' 


* 






* 


* 






* 


* 1 * 

i 




Fowler's 


* 












* 


* 






* 


-1: 






« 


1 * 1 * 

1 ! 




Normal Rural 


* 










* 




* 




* 




* 




* 




* 


1 * 




Oconee Heights 




'fi 








* 




* 




* 




* 




* 






* 1 * 




Lampkin 


* 












* 




* 


* 




* 




* 






* 1 * 




Bethaven 


* 












* 


* 






* 


* 




* 




* 1 

1 


* 


Barberville 


* 










* 


^ 




* 




* 






* 


* * 




Total 


8 


4 






1 


5 


8 


12 


1 


9 


4 


11 


2 


7 


6 


4 


9 


11 


2 



There are in Clarke County outside of Athens 13 school buildings for 
whites and 14 schools for colored pupils, four of which are held in 
churches. Prior to 1914 there were 14 schools for whites, but the 
Buchanon and Tuckston schools (see school map) have been consolidated 
in the Tuckston building. The following characteristics are common to 
all school buildings in the county, white and colored. They are ventilated 
only by windows, and are heated by stoves. With one exception these 
stoves are unjacketed. The Normal Rural school has a steel jacketed 

22 




Type of uniiuproved School Grounds. (White). 
Fi-diii Stiitly No. '^. 




Outdoor gyiini;istic drilJ, Model and Trainin.i;' St-hoDl. 
This school deserves the lilghest couinienchition and loyal supiiort. 

23 



stove. They obtain their water from wells, either on the school grounds, 
or from a nearby farm house. The toilet houses are mere boxes con- 
structed of rough boards and are unscreened. They are rarely, if ever, 
cleaned out and the filth accumulates from the beginning to end of school. 
The specific characteristics are so few that they can scarcely be tabulated, 
but the accompanying table will give a slight sketch wherein some of the 
houses differ from the above general description. 

As this diagram shows, there is one house with five rooms, four having 
two rooms, and nine having one room. There are four school buildings 
with cloak rooms, and nine that have no cloak room. All the houses but 
one are painted, or fiave been. The paint has peeled off most of them 
so that they need repainting badly. Only one school building is lighted 
at night. Eight buildings are supplied with patent desks. The others are 
fitted with serviceable desks manufactured in Athens. The total number 
of patent desks in use is 220. 

Most of the buildings were located on level shady spots, but two or 
three are located on steep hillsides. Princetown school house is located on 
a hill so steep that the playground is practically useless. A few of the 
school grounds have flower gardens, but having no one to attend them 
during the long vacations, each year has to start anew: the general con- 
dition of most of the school houses is below normal. Consider the fact 
that not a penny was spent in the whole county in 1914 for repairs on 
school buildings and it is readily seen that the school buildings are not 
in repair. 

The )i\ggro schools are also classified according to their general charac- 
teristics and a glance at the next table will give a fair picture of the four- 
teen schools. 

TABLE XIX. 
Description of Buildings, Negro Schools, Rural. 



No. oi Rooms 


Cloak 
Room 


D.J n 1 ' P'^'y 
Painted , Uesks , Grounds 


Location 


Flower 
Garden 


General 
Condition 




1. 


2 


3 


4 


5 




o 
Z 


>- 


o 
Z 


CU 


o 
Z 


-a 
o 
o 

O 


o 

o 
CU 


-a 
o 
o 

O 


o 

o 

a. 


>■ 


o 
Z 


.u -a 


Midway 




* 










* 


* 






* 


* 






* 




* 


* 




Oak Grove 


* 












* 


* 






* 




* 




* 




* 




* 


Billups't 


. * 












* 




♦ 




* 




* 


* 






* 




* 


Morton's Ch'p'l 


* 












* 


* 






* 


* 




* 






* 


* 




St. Luke's 


* 












* 


* 






* 


♦ 






* 




* 


* 




Allenvillef 


* 












* 




* 




* 




* 




* 




* 




:? 


Timothyt 


-* 












* 




* 




* 




* 




* 




* 




* 


Chestnut Grove 


* 












* 


••i! 






* 


* 




* 






* 


* 




Mt. Sinai 


* 












* 




* 




* 


* 




* 






* 


* 




St. James 


* 












* 




* 




* 




* 




* 




* 


* 




Brooklyn! 


* 












* 




* 




* 


* 




* 






* 




* 


Shiloh 


* 












* 


i >-f 




* 


* 




* 






* 


* 




Model & Tr. 






* 






* 




* 




* 


* 




* 




* 




* 




Macedonia 


* 










* * 




* 


* 






* 


~1~ 


* 

13 


* 

9 




Total 


12 


1 


1 






1 


13 


6 


8 




14 


9 


~5" 


7 


7 


5 



flu fhiircb buildings. 



24 




Tvpical home of Xecro landowner in Sanilv C'reelc District. 
(From Study No. 1. 




Meeting' cf tlie Corn ritih at the Mialel and Training School. 
!~i;nie of the Kxceileut Work 1 ein.^;- lionc liy This Scllonl. 

25 



Of the fourteen negro schools, twelve of them are one-room buildings, 
one has two rooms, and one has three. Four of the negro schools are 
held in churches, there being no building provided for school purposes. 
As for the white schools, not a penny was put into repairs, buildings or 
equipment in 1914. As some of the buildings were in bad condition 
before, a year's rough usages make some of them very dilapidated. One 
of the buildings has a cloak room, and six of them were painted. All the 
buildings that are used for school and church purposes are equipped for 
night lighting. They were lighted by the church-goers and not the school 
patrons. There are no patent desks in the negro school buildings. Only 
five of the schools have desks of any kind. The others have only wooden 
benches in them. The rural pupil is fortunate in that he has plenty of 
room for playgrounds. All of the schools have ample play grounds. Some 
are rough, it is true, but it does not stop the children from play. The 
schools that are run in the church buildings are the poorest ones. They 
are too large for the purpose, they cannot be properly heated in winter, 
and the benches are poor substitutes for desks. 

The Model and Training School is the only rjegro building in the county 
where the property is in good condition. The grounds are well kept and 
have flowers planted, and since the principal of this school has her home 
on the grounds, she cares for the flowers the whole year. The premises 
are kept clean of trash, and altogether presents a neat appearance. This 
school is partly supported by the Slater fund, and gets a small donation 
from the Phelps-Stokes Fund. The Slater Fund is withdrawn after the 
school term 1914-1.5, and the school will be seriously crippled. 

Preparation of Teachers. With the State Normal School and the Uni- 
versity of Georgia located in Athens, it is an easy matter to get normal 
trained white teachers for the schools. Many girls who are so trained 
cannot get employment in the city schools because there is not room for 
them. Also the schools in the county districts, have easy access to normal 
trained teachers. Despite the fact that schools run only five months and 
the salaries are small, of the twenty white teachers employed in the county 
seventeen of them have had normal training. 

Of the twenty-three colored teachers in the city schools, fourteen have 
had college or normal training, six have had high school training, one had 
only gone through the grammar grades, and the other two were not ascer- 
tained. In the country districts, seven of the teachers had had some nor- 
mal training, though there were only three who had had as much as six 
months. Five had had high school work though only two had completed 
the high school. The remaining eleven teachers had finished the grammar 
school. This data was secured directly from the teachers themselves, 
since no other record of their training could be obtained. 

Other qualifications are important. Much has been written on the low 
moral standard of the negro teacher, and there is no direct proof to the 
contrary. The investigator inquired after the record of the teachers in 
Athens of every iierson whom he met whose judgment was thought to be 
of consequence, and every one questioned spoke highly of the character 

26 



of the Athens force of teachers. He did not hear one of them spoken of 
in any but the best terms. In the county it was somewhat different. 
There were instances in which some of the colored teachers in the county 
districts were thought to have set a bad example. However, these opin- 
ions are merely set down at what they are worth. The salaries of the 
teachers may be noted subsequently. 

Length of School Term. In Athens, all the schools, white and colored, 
are run for nine months in the year, and funds are appropriated to enable 
them to run for that long. In the country schools, the majority run for 
only five months in the year. The amount received from the state enables 
them to run for only five months, and there is no other fund available for 
most of them. Winterville white school, however, runs nine months. 
Tuition is charged to pay part of the expenses, and citizens of the town 
interested in school work subscribe to the fund. The Princeton school 
runs seven months. The expenses for the two extra months are met by 
charging a small tuition, and by subscription of citizens of the village. 
The remainder of the schools run five months. 

Of the colored schools, only one runs more than five months in the 
year, and that is the Model and Training School, which runs nine months, 
due to donations from the Slater Fund, a small donation from the Phelps- 
Stokes Fund, and private Contributions. With short term schools and 
poor attendance the total proportion of school days for the average 
child is consequently small. 

General Finances. The state apportioned to Athens $11,665.60 from 
the general state appropriations as the city's share of the state school 
money in the school year 1914-15. The schools received from the city a 
supplement, appropriated directly from the city treasury. The total cost 
of operating the schools in the city for the 1914-15 school year was 
$57,615.95, but a detailed report as to how it was divided between 
the white and negro schools was not received. All school buildings in 
use in the city for public school purposes are owned by the city. 

In the county districts, the county does not own all the school buildings. 
Of the thirteen buildings in which white schools are conducted, ten are 
publicly owned. These ten buildings are valued at about $7,5 00. Only 
five of the fourteen school buildings for negroes are publicly owned. The 
value of these five is estimated at $2,700. 

The total value of white school property, publicly and privately owned, 
in the county is about $9,100. The total value of negro school property, 
publicly and privately owned, in the rural districts is about $3,500. 

What the county gets from the state appropriations is about all there 
is available for public education in the county. The buildings now in use 
were constructed several years ago when Georgia was a "wet" state. A 
dispensary was run in Athens, and the profits went to the education fund. 
Now that this fund has been used up, there is no other source of revenue 
supplied. A local tax election held a few years ago failed to pass, and 
Clarke Cotlnty is still without adequate revenue to maintain a good system 
of schools. Sentiment is now being worked up in the county in favor of 

27 




I'rohalily tlie best ne.sird Iidiiu- in Athens. 




The West Broad Street public school for negroes. 

28 



local tax, and probably before long the voters will supply revenue to sup- 
plement the state school fund. 

The receipts and disbursements for the year 1914-15 in the Athens city 
schools are shown below: 

Receipts. 

From City of Athens $45100.00 

State of Georgia 11665.60 

Tuition 848.50 

Miscellaneous Income i 213.28 

Bill Payable 600o!oO 

Deficit, July 1915 375.85 



$64203.23 
Disbui'senients. 

Deficit July, 1914 90.59 

Salary account 49917.04 

Janitor " 1955.66 

Repair " 1429.02 

Supply " : 656.29 

Fuel and Light account 1584.58 

Printing and advertising account ' 116.40 

Furniture and Equipment 



Misc. and Incidentals 

Library 

Maintenance of Grounds 

Rent 

Contingent 

Bills Payable 



756.24 
474.10 
78.55 
193.94 
247.50 
207.63 
6000.00 



Discount on note and City warrants 495.69 



$64203.23 $64203.23 
The total cost of operating the schools, exclusive of the loan to offset 
the delay in State payments and interest on this loan and on city war- 
rants, was $57616.95. 

The total amount available for public education in the county is here 
shown. 

Received from State appropriation in 1914 $7,936.77 

Balance from 1913 1,056.06 

Tuition 487.00 

$9,479.83 
The following report from the County School Superintendent will show 
expenditures. 

Male Female Total 

Teachers' Salaries — White $774.91 $3843.52 $4618.43 

Teachers' Salaries — Negro 114.00 2,484 2598. 3a 

Insurance $ 14.00 

Equipment 

Supplies 

Repairs 

Interest $ 202.45 

Superintendent's Salary $1032. Members County Board $84 $1,116.00 

Office expenses 41.66 

Total, $8,591.67 

29 



The item marked interest in tlie above budget of expenditures, means 
interest that comes from borrowing for teachers' salaries. Tlie state 
does not make arrangements to pay tlie teachers promptly, but in order 
to pay the teachers, the county superintendent borrows the money to pay 
the teacher, the teacher being required to pay the interest on the amount 
borrowed. Their pay is small enough, and their work difficult enough to 
at least get their money promptly without having to pay interest on it.* 

The following are average expenditures for the county schools: 

White Negro 

Average monthly expenditure per pupil, $2.14 $0.67 

Male Female 

Salary to white teachers $70.00 $40.45 

Salary to negro teachers 24.00 22.09 

Salary to H. S. white teachers 80.00 60.00 

Salary to H. S. negro teachers 



* The lOl.j T^egislaturo luis reinodie'l tliis defect liy suitable lesislation. 

30 




i*.-^ 



m^^.' 






'riie "Xormnl IJur.-il" scIkkiI mi tlie camims of thfj State Normal Srhonl in the 
Athens District. Contrasted with the (■onininn ty|ie in ('larke ("onnTy. 




School (hardening at the Xornial Knral School. 
Possibilities so undeveloped in the Clarke Connt.v Scliools. 



31 



CHAPTER III 

School Work and School Progress 

Basis of this Chapter. This chapter will show in a general way the 
character of the work actually being done in the schools of Clarke County, 
including the city schools of Athens and the country schools of the county, 
both white and negro. The results obtained from the study of school work 
and the comparisons between white and black will be studied further in 
connection with subsequent facts brought out in the study of the aptitudes 
and abilities of, white and negro children. The information in this chapter 
is all printed here for the first time, and was obtained through original 
inquiry instituted by the Phelps-Stokes studies. Special report blanks 
were prepared and carried or sent to every teacher in every school in the 
county. After the desired information was obtained the blanks were re- 
turned or collected by the investigator. The information asked for on 
the blanks included: Name of pupil, age, sex, grade, promoted or not 
promoted, time in grade, deportment, class standing, and in what subject 
best work was done. Most of the information received proved to be 
accurate and usable; in those cases where there was doubt or irregularity, 
the results were thrown out. The substance of the information so gained 
is presented below. 

Age and Grade Distribution. The relative distribution of all pupils in 
the public schools of the city and country, classified by race, sex, .^.nd 
grades is given in the first table. 

TABLE XX. 

Showing the per cent, in each grade in all elementary schools. 



White 


Negro 


City 


Country 


Elemen- 
tary 


City 


Country 


Male 


Female 


Tolal 


Male 


Female 


Tolal 


Grade 


1 

Male 1 Female 


Total 


Male 


Female 


Tolal 


27.4 
18.1 
12.1 
15.9 


21.8 
19.0 
14.9 
17.9 


24.8 
18.6 
13.4 
16.7 


39.6 

12.8 

12.8 

9.3 


24.8 
14.2 
11.7 
11.2 


32.9 
13.5 
12.4 
10.1 


1 
2 
3 
4 


47.8 

14.1 

12.3 

9.9 


28.5 
22.9 
13.2 
13.1 


37.0 
18.9 
12.8 
11.6 


53.0 

18.6 

11.9 

9.4 


40.6 
18.5 
16.8 
12.4 


46.2 
18.7 
14.6 
11.0 


73.5 


73.6 


73.5 


74.5 


61.9 


68.9 


1 Total 


1 84.1 


77.7 


80.3 


92.9 


88.3 


90.6 












Grammar Grades 












12.7 
8.8 
4.9 


10.6 

13.7 

2.0 


11.7 

11.1 

3.5 


10.3 
9.3 
5.6 


24.2 
8.0 
5.6 


16.3 
8.7 
6.0 


5 
6 

7 


8.4 
4.6 
2.6 


12.8 
6.9 
2.9 


10.8 
5.9 
2.8 


5.4 

1.4 

.2 


7.1 
2.8 
1.8 


6.4 
2.0 
1.0 


26.4 


1 26.3 


26.1 


25.2 


37.8 


31.0 


Total 


15.6 


22.6 


19.5 


7.0 


11.7 


9.4 



Some of the important facts gleaned from the above table should be 
summarized and emphasized. The table shows that in the city, 73.5 per 
cent, of the whites are enrolled in the primary grades, and 26.1 per cent, 
in the grammar grades. The negroes are 80.3 per cent, enrolled in the 
primary grades and 19.5 per cent, in the grammar grades. The per cent. 
of both whites and blacks in the seventh grade is small, only 3.5 per cent. 

32 



of the whites, and 2.S per cent, of the negroes are thus enrolled in the 
last grade in the grammar school. In the country schools, the negroes 
are 46.2 per cent, in the first grade, and only 1.0 per cent, in the seventh. 
Of the total negro pupils enrolled in the country schools, 90.6 per cent, 
are enrolled in the primary grades, and only 9.4 per cent, in the grammar 
grades. The whites make a much better showing. Of those enrolled, 
68.9 per cent, are in tha primary grades, and 31.0 per cent, in the gram- 
mar grades. 

An examination of the table shows further, that the whites do not 
vary so much in sex as the negroes. Of the negro boys in the city, only 
15.6 per cent, are in the grammar grades, as opposed to 22.6 per cent, of 
the negro girls. Of the whites in the city, 2 6.4 per cent of the boys are 
enrolled in the grammar grades, and 2 6.3 per cent, of the girls. Thus it 
is seen that a larger per cent, of the whites reach the higher grades than 
of the negroes. With the whites, the two sexes are almost equally divided, 
but with the negroes the females are greatly in excess of the males. 

The negroes remain in school to a more advanced age. If 14 years be 
adopted as the age when pupils would finish the grammar school, there 
is only 1.1 per cent, of the whites above that age, while of the negro 
pupils, 4.3 per cent, are over 14. The following table shows the distri- 
bution by ages of the pupils of the different groups. 

TABLE XXI. 

Distribution of Pupils by Ages in All Elementary Schools. 









Wl 


lite 




Negro 


Age 


City 


Country 


City 


C 


ountry 




Male 


Female 


Tola! 


Male ' Female 


Total 


Male Female 


Total 


Male 


Female 


Total 


6 


12.9 


11.9 


12.4 


12.4 


8.1 


10.4 


13.1 


8.9 


10.8 


9.8 


9.6 


9.8 


7 


11.5 


11.1 


11.3 


10.5 


8.2 


9.4 


12.1 


9.1 


10.6 


10.5 


10.3 


10.4 


8 


14.9 


18.2 


16.5 


12.4 


9.2 


10.9 


14.7 


10.9 


12.7 


11.0 


10.9 


11.2 


9 


14.7 


15.2 


14.9 


10.5 


8.6 


9.7 


10.1 


14.3 


12.4 


10.3 


11.0 


10.7 


10 


13.8 


14.1 


13.9 


10.5 


i6.a 


13.2 


12.5 


14.1 


12.8 


11.0 


10.6 


11.0 


11 


12.6 


11.6 


12.1 


6.2 


10.3 


8.2 


11.4 


9.5 


10.4 


7.5 


8.8 


8.2 


12 


9.6 


8.4 


9.1 


14.0 


9.7 


11.9 


10.4 


9.8 


10.1 


11.7 


9.3 10.4 


13 


6.7 


7.1 


6.9 


5.4 


9.7 


7.3 


7.0 


10.9 


9.2 


10.5 


7.6 


8.9 


14 


1.9 


1.4 


1.7 


8.6 


8.1 


8.4 


6.1 


6.7 


6.5 


6.8 


8.8 


7.8 


15 


1.2 


.3 


.8 


6.2 


10.8 


8.4 


2.6 


3.5 


3.1 


7.0 


5.6 


6.2 


16 


.1 


.5 


.3 


2.8 


.5 


1.7 


.6 


1.1 


.9 


2.1 


5.8 


4.1 


17 
















.5 


.3 


.4 


1.6 


1.0 


18 



























In the above table the mode, or the age in which the largest number is 
found ,is in heavy type. A glance across the columns will show that there 
is not much difference between the whites and negroes in the city schools. 
The only difference is that the negro girls have a tendency to extend to a 
higher age than others. In the country schools, the variation is greater. 
There is a tendency on the part of boys of both races to extend to a higher 
age. Summarizing, it is seen that in the city schools a larger nuriiber is 
enrolled at eight years than in any other year. In the country schools 

33 



the largest number enrolled is at ten years for the whites and eight for 
the negreos. In the city schools the whites enrolled 16.5 per cent, at eight 
years and the negroes 12.7 per cent. The country schools have 13.2 per 
cent, enrolled at ten years of the whites, and of the negroes 11.2 per cent, 
at eight years. Likewise, throughout the table there is variation among 
the whites and negroes in the city and country schools at the different 
age periods. The tendency of the negroes to extend over a somewhat 
wider range is shown. The irregularity of the curve at different age 
periods is graphically shown. The irregularity in the country schools is 
more pronounced than in the city schools. 

Retardation. Having seen that a smaller number of negroes reach the 
higher grades, but that a larger number are enrolled at the later ages, 
it is to be expected that the negro pupils w^ill show a higher percentage 
of retardation. This is the case. The total pupils for each race and 
school, are first arranged according to age and grade. Then the standard 
of normal age most commonly accepted, is applied. This standard applies 
to each grade a normal age, and all children who are older than that age 
are called above normal age. The above normal age children are counted 
as retarded. The normal age of children in the first grade is commonly 
accepted as seven years. The normal age of children in the second grade 
is eight years, those in the third grade nine years, and so on. 

In the comparisons of the different races and schools, the proportion 
of children of normal age is shown, and also those above normal and those 
below normal. These proportions are shown in the tables that follow 

Examine first the table of percentages. In the table the mode is under- 
lined, and comparisons can be quickly made. The difference between 
retarded children by grades in the white and negro city schools is not 
great. Among th'e whites, the mode for above normal falls in the fourth 
grade. The same is true of the negroes. The mode for normal among 
the whites falls in the third grade. For the negroes, the mode is in the 
first grade, but there is not much difference in the first and third. The 
mode for below normal for both races is in the first grade. 

In the country schools, note that the mode for above normal falls in 
the second grade, but for the negroes it falls in the fifth. The mode for 
normal among the whites is in the sixth grade, while for the negroes it 
is in the first. The mode for below normal for the whites is in the 
seventh grade, while for the negroes it is in the first. Further compari- 
sons can be made by noticing the graphical representation. The differ- 
ence between the sexes is seen to be slight. In the group above normal, 
there is a difference of almost half between the whites and negroes; in 
the normal group, the difference is seen to be about one-third; in the 
below normal group the difference is about half. Among the wdiites in 
the city schools there are more in the below normal group than in. the 
above normal group. For the negroes, however, there are only a third 
as many in the below normal as in the above normal group. In the 
country schools, the whites are about three-fifths as many in the below 
as in the above normal group. For the negroes, the below normals are 

34 









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only a sixth of the above normals. Careful notice should be given the 
relative number of children who are in the below normal group, and are 
called bright ones as compared to the slow or retarded ones. 

Of course most children enter school in Georgia at six years of age, and 
these tables could be worked on a basis allowing six years as normal age 
for the first grade; however, most writings on the subject take seven 
years as normal age, for- the first grade. For the reason above mentioned 
there are more children, of both races, in the below normal group than 
would be if the six year standard had been used. 

The preceding tables and representations have shown the per cent, of 
children who are retarded. But as given, they do not show the difference 
in the degree of retardation. Evidently a child who is retarded one year 
and one retarded five years are not to be classed alike. Again, a more 
accurate comparison may be made between the whites and negroes, if the 
retarded pupils are classified according to the number of years retarded. 
The following table shows the two groups classified according to number 
of years retarded. 

From this table is seen that in the city schools, there is not much 
difference in the per cent, retarded one year between the whites and 
negroes. For those retarded more than one year however, the negroes 
are retarded for two years more than twice as much as the whites. Re- 
tarded three years, the negroes are three times as much as the whites, 
and so on, for the other remaining numbers. In the rural schools, the 
number retarded one year is greater for the whites than for the blacks. 
The difference between the number of whites and number of negroes re- 
tarded two years is 3.0 per cent. For those retarded three years or more 
the negroes show a much larger per cent, than the whites. Further 
relative comparison may be made from the tables and graphs. 



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other Comparisons. In the above tables and conclusions it has been 
assumed that one year only be allowed for a normal age for each grade. 
The usual classifications were then made as commonly made in other 
studies. Experience, liowever, has shown that three years may be allow- 
ed for each grade and thus make a more flexible and refined classifica- 
tion. Thus a child who is in the first grade may be classed as normal if 
ne be six, seven or eight years old; a child in the second if he be seven, 
eight, or nine; and so on for the grades. For late entrance to school, 
different standards of grading, and many other factors contribute to make 
the age for the several grades variable. Thus, if one is not disposed to 
accept the previous classifications of retardation, the second may be 
studied and comparisons made between white and negro children. The 
table follows. 



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An examination of this table shows tliat in tlie case of the white chil- 
dren only 11.5 per cent, are retarded, while in the case of the negroes 
39.9 per cent, are retarded, thus making the difference even greater than 
with the former classification. This is for the city schools. In the 
country districts, the difference is not quite so great, both white and 
negro being more retarded, the former 30.7 per cent, and the latter 58.3 
per cent. Further comparisons may be made if desired. 

Class-room Work. An attempt was made to find out the quality of the 
class-room work done by pupils in the schools. In the special report 
blank sent to the different teachers, provision was made for classifying 
the pupils in three grades. That is, whether the pupil was in the upper 
section, middle or lower section of his class. The following table gives a 
summary of the results obtained. 

TABLE XXV. 

Class Standing. 





City 


Country 




White 

No. % 


Negro 
No. 7c 


White 

No. % 


Nc 
No. 


gro 


High 

Medium 

Low 


402 
557 
281 


32.4 
44.9 
22.6 


195 
622 
213 


18.9 
60.2 
20.6 


148 

178 

49 


39.5 
47.4 
15.1 


182 
570 
158 


20.0 
62.6 
17.4 


Total 


1240 


99.9 


1030 


99.8 1 


375 




910 


100.0 



As seen from the table, there were reported in the city the standing of 
1240 white pupils and of 998 negro pupils. Of the white pupils, there 
were 402, or 32.4 per cent, in the upper section. In the middle section 
were 557, or 44.9 per cent, of those reported, while in the lower section 
were 281, or 22.6 per cent. Of the negroes, there were in the upper 
section 195, or 18.9 per cent, of the pupils. In the middle section were 
622, or 60.3 per cent, of the number reported, and in the lower section 
were 213, or 20.6 per cent. 

As seen from the table also, there were reported 3 75 white pupils and 
910 negro pupils from the country schools, of the white pupils, there 
were in the upper section of the class 14 8, or 39.5 per cent, of the 
number reported, in the middle section were 178, or 47.4 per cent., and 
in the lower section 49, or 15.1 per cent. Of the negroes, 182, or 20.0 
per cent, were in the upper section, 570, or 62.6 per cent, in the middle 
section, and 158, or 17.4 per cent, in the lower section. 

In view of the fact that negro pupils and white pupils study the same 
texts, and are in school under more or less the same circumstances, it 
would seem from the above figures that the work accomplished by the 
two groups is of about the same quality. 

The standards of measurements for the two are necessarily different, 
however. As has been shown in a preceding chapter, the preparation 
of the two groups of teachers is very different. The white teachers have 
had very superior training compared to the negro teachers, and the 
quality of the work done by them should be of a higher order. There- 

40 



I 



fore, when a negro teacher classes a pupil in the upper section of his 
class, a white teacher grading a pupil of equal standing by her standards, 
the two pupils would not come in the same class as t* quality of work 
accomplished. 

Deportment and Conduct in School. The deportment of the negro 
pupils in the city schools was reported to be on the average as satisfac- 
tory. Talks with the principals of the various schools brought out the 
information that the pupils were easy to discipline. Corporal punish- 
ment is used when necessary, and the principals report that in some 
cases it is absolutely necessary. Out of an enrollment of 1180, there 
were reported 140 cases of corporal punishment in the negro city schools. 

As seen from the table that follows, out of 13 77 reported in the white 
city schools, 9 9 pupils, or 6.0 per cent, were reported as bad. In the 
negro schools in the city 1041 were reported. Of this number, the 
deportment of 121, or 11.6 per cent, of the group were reported as hav- 
ing bad deportment. 

In the country schools, 388 pupils were reported. 11.3 per cent, of 
that number were reported as having bad deportment. Of the negroes, 
933 pupils were reported. Of that number only 54, or 5.7 per cent, were 
reported as having bad deportment. Other comparisons may be made. 

TABLE XXVI. 

Deportment and Class. 



Deportment 


City 


Country 




White 

No. % 


Negro 
No. % 


White 

No. <7o 


Negro 
No. % 


Good 

Average 

Bad 


747 

538 

92 


54.8 

39.1 

6.0 


435 

485 
121 


41.8 
46.6 
11.6 


155 
189 

44 


40.0 

48.7 
11.3 


292 

587 

54 


31.3 

62.9 

5.7 


Total 


1377 


99.9 


1041 


100.0 1 


1 388 


100.0 


933 


99.9 



Aptitude in Branches of Study. In asking the different teachers to 
report for each pupil the subject that he did his best work, results as 
tabulated below are of interest, although probably of little absolute value. 
By looking at the table carefully, it is seen that a larger per cent, of all 
groups did better work in reading than in any other subject. Arithmetic 
comes next. A large per cent, of pupils of the various groups were re- 
ported as doing good work in arithmetic. Comparisons can be made for 
all the subjects taught in the primary and grammar grades by looking 
at the table. As seen from the graphs, the leaders for all groups are 
reading, arithmetic, and spelling. The other subjects follow with varying 
degrees. Very few of the pupils excel in knowing the fundamental prin- 
ciples of the care of the body and cleanliness taught in Physiology. 



41 



Subject 



TABLE XXVI r. 
Best AVoik in the Subjects of: 



City 



Country 



White 

No. % 



Reading 


284 


30.0 


Spelling 


184 


20.1 


Arithmetic 


226 


24.7 


English 


89 


9.7 


Geography- 


36 


3.9 


History 


62 


6.7 


Physiolgy 


6 


.6 


Writing 


26 


2.8 



Negro 

No. '/c 



416 
88 

327 
51 
23 
27 
6 
30 



42.9 
9.1 

33.7 
5.8 
2.4 
2.7 
.6 
3.0 



913 I 99.7 I 968 ilOO.O 



White 

No. % 



Negro 

No. Vc 



110 
25 

127 
14 
12 
19 



38.5 
8.1 

41.3 
4.5 
3.9 
6.2 



307 ! 99.8 




746 1 99.6 



42 



CHAPTER IV 

Tests of General Intelligence and Mental Processes 
The Basis of this Cliapter. In this chapter it is proposed to give the 
results of certain tests of intelligence of both white and negro children in 
order that they may be compared with each other and with the results 
given in previous chapters. These results will have a practical value in 
helping to interpret the problems of instruction in the schools and a 
theoretical value in contributing something to the knowledge of the differ- 
eences between the two groups of children. All results were obtained 
from original tests made uniformly by the same investigator after thor- 
ough instruction in the use of material. The tests were made in separate 
rooms where individual experiments were necessary, and all tests were 
made between the hours of 9:30 and 1:30 of the school morning. Condi- 
tions were as nearly uniform as it was possible to obtain. 

Two general types of experiments were made. The first consisted of 
the Binet measuring scale for intelligence, and was modeled after God- 
dard's revision. Results were tabulated according to his classifications 
so that comparisons might be made with his results and also the results 
obtained by Dr. Odum in his tests of three hundred children three years 
ago. The tests of mental processes were limited to four and selected for 
comparison with other similar studies. These four comprised the test for 
efficiency in simple perception, as found in the A-tests; the tests for 
efficiency in association of ideas, as found in the A-t tests; the tests for 
efficiency in controlled association, as found in the opposites-test; and 
the test for efficiency in controlled association and association of ideas 
in the misspelled word-test. These were selected as the most typical of 
the tests for simple and complex processes. 

The Binet Tests: In addition to the general conclusions reached from 
the use of the Binet tests it may be suggested that they do not appear 
as suited to negro children as to white children and that therefore the 
difference between the two groups may seem too large. Since, however, 
they represent a sort of standardized measurement, regardless of race or 
individuals, the results may be accepted as of some value. This is espe- 
cially true in view of the fact that the results agree with the three other 
tests that have been made for negro children, to my knowledge. The 
number of children tested included 304, although the number in the 
fifth, fifteenth and sixteenth years is too small to be of any value. The 
results may be gathered from the table which follows: 







Standing of Xeg 


ro 


Pupils 


According to Binet Tests. 




Age 


Intelligence age | 


% one year 
and more re- 
tarded 


''t ad- 
vanced 


% retarded 

two years or 

more 


'■; back- 


in yrs. 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


10|11 


12 


13 


Total 


ward 


5 






2 





















2 


__ 


100.0 








6 


1 


19 


23 


4 












__ 


__ 


47 


42.5 


8.5 


2.0 


„ _ 


7 




1 


10 


11 


6 















28 


39.3 


21.4 


3.5 





8 






10 


22 


6 




__ 


_■_ 





__ 


38 


' 84.2 


— — 


26.3 





9 






7 


19 


8 


8 


__ 


I 





42 


80.9 





61.9 





10 




1 


4 


4 


10 


13 


2 











34 


94.1 





55.8 


14.7 


11 






2 


2 


8 


12 


6 


3 





__ 


33 


90.9 





72.7 


12.1 


12 








2 


7 


5 


12 


__ 


__ 





26 


100.0 





100.0 


23.6 


13 






1 


1 


3 


4 


13 


4 






26 


100.0 


__ 


100.0 


34.6 


14 








1 


4 


9 


6 


4 


2 




26 


100.0 


__ 


100.0 


76.9 


15 
















1 






1 


100.0 


__ 


100.0 


100.0 


16 





— 


— 


— 


— 


1 


— 


— 


— 


-- 


1 


100.0 


-- 


100.0 


100.0 


Total 1 1 |21 


59 


66 


52 


52 


39|12 


2 


1 304 


1 . 78.6 


4.0 


47.0 


15.8 



As seen from the same table, 4.0 per cent, of the children were ad- 
vanced, that is, tested above normal. 78.7 per cent, are retarded 1 year 
or more, and 4 7 per cent, are retarded two years or more. If those chil- 
dren who tests 3 or more years below age are counted backward, then 
of the negro children tested 15.8 per cent, were found backward by the 
Binet Tests. 

The next table is a comparison of the results of 1547 white children 
tested by Dr. Goddard, in New Jersey, of 300 negro children tested by 
Dr. Odum in Philadelphia, and of the 304 negro children tested in Athens. 

The white children tested 329 pupils one year above age, and 312 tested 
one year below age, while at normal was the largest number, 554 pupils. 
The negroes tested by Dr. Odum show 15 testing one year above age, and 
80 testing one year below age, and at age the largest number, 83 pupils. 

Binet Tests of AVhite and NegTO Children. 



FEEBLEMINDED 


BACKWARD 


NORMAL 


EXCEPTIONAL 




GROUP Years 


Be 


low Age 


Ai 

Age 


Years Above Age 
1 2 3-4 


TOTAL 


7 6 


4 


■i 2 1 




White 

Children 16 8 


37 


79 156 312 


554 


329 49 14 2 


1547 


Negro 

Children 2 3 

(Philadelphia) 


14 


26 76 80 


83 


15 1 


300 


Negro 

Children 2 6 17 

(Athens) 


24 


41 71 78 


53 


12 


304 



Of the 304 tested in this report, 12 tested one year above age, at one 
year below age as the table shows, there are 78, the largest number. 
Testing at age the number is 53. 

The white children as tested show 3.9 per cent, feebleminded, of the 



44 



negroes tested by Dr. Odum, 6.3 per cent, are reported feebleminded, and 
of those tested in tliis report sliow that 16.1 per cent, as tested by the 
Binet Tests are feebleminded. i 

The total averages do not give a fair representation of the averages for 
the Binet test in this report. Children of five, six, and seven years test 
about normal, while those of eleven, twelve and thirteen tested far below- 
normal. 

As seen from the next table which follows, the children at five years 
of age tested 6 years, while at 14 years, they tested 9.9 years. One child 
of sixteen tested at 9. The main group, however, from one to fourteen 
years, show a range from 1 to 4.1 years retarded. 

Average Intelligence of Negro Children by Binet Tests. 



Number of Average Age Average Amount 
Age Pupils by Binet Backward (years; 
Tests 

5 2 6.0 +1.0 

6 47 5.6 .4 

7 28 6.8 .2 

8 38 6.9 1.1 

9 42 7.4 1.6 

10 34 . 8.1 1.9 

11 33 8.8 2.2 

12 26 9.0 3.0 

13 26 9.5 3.5 

14 26 9.9 4.1 

15 1 11.0 4.0 

16 1 9.0 7.0 

Tests of "Single Traits" Mental Processes. These tests are fully de- 
scribed by Whipple, in his "Manual of Mental and Physical Tests." 

The first is a test of simple perception, and is called the "A" test. This 
consists of a printed sheet of capital letters. One sheet is given to each 
pupil, who is instructed uniformly by the same examiner to "mark the 
largest number of letters possible in two minutes; to see who can mark 
the largest number in two minutes. The papers were graded by counting 
the number of letters marked regardless of omissions. 

The next table shows the table of frequencies of 160 white children 
and 156 negro children of approximately the same age. In this table, 
the results are classified by sex and race, and the frequencies are given 
in percentages. 



1 h^ee .Annals of the American Academy, Sept., 1013. 

45 





Efficiency 


of Percept 


ion in White and Negro Pupils. 






A's 

Marked 


GIRLS 


BOYS 


TOTAL 


WHITE 

No. % 


NEGRO 

No. * 


WHITE 

No. % 


NEGRO 

Mo. % 


WHITE 

No. •;; 


NEGRO 

No. <h 


Under 10 

10 to 12 

12 to 14 

14 etc. 

16 

18 

20 

22 

24 

26 

28 

30 

32 

34 

36 

38 

40 

42 

44 

46 

48 

50 


1~ 
3 
1 
1 

7 

6 

7 

5 

9 

11 

5 

8 

5 

8 



1 

1 

1 


1.2 
3.7 
1.3 
1.2 
8.8 
7.5 
8.7 
6.2 

11.2 

13.7 
6.2 

10.0 
6.2 

10.0 

Y2 
1.3 
1.2 


1 

2 

Y 

V 

3 

3 

6 

4 

8 

13 

8 

14 

6 

7 

5 

6 

3 


1.0 
2.0 

2.0 

5.0 

3.0 

3.0 

6.0 

4.0 

8.0 

13.0 

18.0 

14.0 

6.0 

7.0 

5.0 

6.0 

3.0 


1 

4 
3 
11 

4 

7 

9~ 

11 

7 

5 

6 

2 

4 

2 

1 

3 


1.2 

Y.o 

3.7 

13.7 

5.0 

8.7 

11.2 
13.8 

8.7 
6.2 
7.5 
2.5 
5.0 
2.5 
1.2 
3.8 


1 

3 
6 
5 
6 
3 
7 
6 
6 
3 
4 
3 
2 

,1~ 

2 

1 
1 


1.7 

5.0 

10.0 

8.3 

10.0 

5.0 

11.7 

10.0 

10.0 

5.0 

6.7 

5.0 

3.3 

1.7 
3.3 

1.7 
1.6 


1 

1 

7 

4 

12 

11 

13 

7 

14 

20 

18 

10 

14 

7 

12 

2 

2 

4 

1 


0.6 
0.6 

4.4 
2.5 
7.5 
6.9 
8.1 
4.3 
8.7 
12.5 
11.2 
6.2 
8.7 
4.4 
7.5 
1.2 
1.2 
2.5 
0.7 


1 
3 

5~ 

6 

10 

9 

6 

13 

10 

14 

16 

12 

17 

8 

7 

6 

8 

4 

1 


0~6 
1.0 

~3~2 
3.9 
6.4 
5.8 
3.8 
8.3 
6.4 
8.9 

10.4 
7.7 

10.9 
5.1 
4.5 
3.8 
5.1 
2.5 
0.6 


Total i 80 1 
Average [ 30. 6| | 


99 80 
31.5 28. 7| 




64 
25.6 




100 
29.6 


156 
28.6 




Average | | | 
Deviation | 5.8| 


6.1| 6.6 




6.1 




6.2 




6.1 





From this table it will be seen that both groups show a wide range and 
much irregularity. Negro children show a little wider range than the 
white children. Thus the negro children range from 10 up to 4 8. The 
white children range from 12 up to 48. By consulting the table, com- 
parisons can be made between the total groups, and also by sexes. 

The averages for the two groups are also shown. The white children 
marked on an average of 29.6 A's in two minutes, while the negro children 
averaged 28.6 A's in two minutes. The average deviation for the whites 
is 6.2, and for the negroes it is 6.1. 

The next test combined perception with association of ideas. The 
"A-T" test was used here. This consists of a page printed in Spanish. 
The examiner instructs the pupil to mark as many words having both 
"a" and "t" in them as possible, or to see who can mark the largest 
number of "a's" and "t's" in two minutes. The test was made by the 
same examiner as the other, and the pupils were uniformly instructed. 
The tests were graded by counting the number of words marked without 
regard to omissions. Many pupils marked words that did not contain 
both "a" and "t." These words were disregarded in grading. This test 
was given to 125 white chil(Jren and to 149 negro children, of approx- 
imately the same age. The results are classified by sex, giving the fre- 
quencies in percentages. The following table shows the results: 

46 



Efficiency in Association of Ideas — White and Negro Punils. 

(A and T Words). 





WHITE 


NEGRO 


TOTAL 


No. Words 


























Marked 


MALE 


FEMALE 


MALE 


FEMALE 


WHITE 


NEGRO 




No. 


*'i' . 


No. 


% 


No. 


'4 


No. 


%. 


No. 


No. 


No. 


% 


2 to 4 


1 


1.6 





_, 


1 


1.7 


2 


2.2 


1 


.8 


3 


2.0 


4 to 6 


1 


1.6 








3 


5.1 


2 


2.2 


1 


.8 


5 


3.4 


6 to 8 


1 


1.6 








3 


5.1 


1 


1.1 


1 


.8 


4 


2.7 


8 etc. 


2 


3.2 








4 


6.9 


3 


3.3 


2 


1.6 


7 


4.8 


10 


2 


3.3 


3 


4.7 


4 


6.9 


6 


6.6 


5 


4.0 


10 


6.8 


12 


12 


19.7 


4 


6.2 


9 


15.5 


10 


11.1 


16 


12.8 


19 


12.8 


14 


3 


4.9 


10 


15.6 


7 


12.1 


9 


10.0 


13 


10.4 


16 


10.8 


16 


14 


22.9 


11 


17.2 


9 


15.5 


12 


13.4 


25 


20.0 


21 


14.2 


18 


11 


18.0 


16 


25.1 


9 


15.5 


15 


15.5 


27 


21.6 


23 


15.5 


20 


5 


8.2 


9 


14.0 


4 


6.9 


11 


12.2 


14 


11.2 


15 


10.1 


22 


1 


1.6 


6 


9.4 


1 


1.7 


14 


15.5 


7 


5.6 


15 


10.1 


24 


7 


11.4 


3 


4.7 





__ 


4 


4.5 


10 


8.0 


4 


2.7 


26 

28 


1 


1.6 


2 


3.1 


4 


6.8 


3 


3.3 


3 


2.4 


7 


4.7 


Total 


61 




64 




58 




92 




125 




149 




Average 


15.9 




17.4 




14.1 




16.3 




16.6 




15.2 




Average 


























Deviation 


3.5 




3.3 




4.4 




4-. 2 




3.4 




4.3 





Here again both groups show a wide range and much irregularity. The 
whites marked an average of 16.6 words in two minutes, and the negroes 
152. In the table, under the column headed "total" the mode is in black- 
faced figures. It is seen that the whites excel in the mode, as well as in 
the average. The average deviation for the whites is 3.4 and for the 
negroes it is 4.3. 

The next test added, to association of ideas, controlled association, as 
embodied in the "opposite word-test." This consists of twenty rather 
simple words. The pupils were instructed in the first test to write as 
many opposites to the words provided as possible in one minute. The 
same instructor gave the test and the instructions were uniform. In this 
test, there were 126 white pupils and 95 negro pupils. The following 
table gives the frequencies. 

Efficiency in Controlled Association — ^\Vhite and Negro Children. 

Number of White Pupils Negro Pupils 



Words Marked 


Number 


Per Cent. 


Number 


Per Cent. 


1 





__ 


7 


7.3 


2 




__ 


7 


7.3 


3 


__ 


■ 


5 


5.2 


4 


1 


0.8 


7 


7.3 


6 


5 


3.9 


6 


6.3 


8 


12 


9.5 


17 


17.9 


10 


10 


7.9 


14 


14.7 


12 


12 


9.5 


14 


' 14.8 


14 


19 


15.1 


13 


14.7 


16 


21 


16.6 


4 


4.2 


18 


25 


19.8 


1 


1.0 


20 


21 


16.6 


— 


-- 


Total 


126 


99.8 


95 


99.8 


Aveerage 


14.6 




8.5 




Average Deviation 


1.9 




3.7 





47 



In this case the negroes show a very large proportion giving a minimum 
number of correct words, and a smaller proportion giving a maximum 
number of correct words. The average number given by the negro chil- 
dren is much smaller than that given by the white children. The average 
given by the whites is 14.6, and by the negro children is 8.5. The average 
deviation for the white children is 1.9, and for the negro children it is 3.7. 
In this table, the mode is underscored. It is seen that for the whites, 
the largest number marked 18 words, and for the negro children, the 
largest number marked 8 words. 

The next test combines with association of ideas and controlled asso- 
ciation some practice in a knowledge of spelling. The teest consists of a 
page of narrative in in which one hundred words are misspelled. The 
pupils were again uniformly instructed to mark as many misspelled words 
as possible in two minutees. 

The number of white pupils was 90 and the number of negro pupils 
was 110. The following table shows the frequencies in terms of the 
number of words marked correctly. Some words were marked that were 
not misspelled, but these were disregarded. 

Efficiency in Controlled Association and Association of Ideas. 
White and Negro Cliildren, 



Number of Misspelled 


White Pupils 
Number Per Cent. 


Negro Pupils 


Words Marked 


Number 


Per Cent. 


Under 10 


6 


6.6 


40 


36.3 


10 up to 20 


18 


20.0 


22 


20.0 


20 up to 30 


25 


29.9 


28 


25.4 


etc. 40 


23 


25.5 


16 


14.5 


50 


12 


13.3 


1 


.9 


60 


6 


6.7 


3 


2.7 



70 

80 

90 

100 



Total 
Average 



90 
33.9 



100 



110 
25.5 



100 



Average Deviation 



10.9 



11.1 



Both groups show about the same range, but the difference in efficiency 
between white and negro children is shown to be great. The white chil- 
dren have only 6.6 per cent marking under 10, but the negroes have 36.3 
per cent. The white children marking 60 words is 6.7 per cent, but the 
negro children who marked 60 was 2.7. The mode for white children falls 
between 20 and 30, but for the negroes it is below ten. Further differ- 
ences are to be seen in the averages. The white children marked on an 
average, 33.9 words in two minutes. The negro children averaged 25.5 
words. The average deviation for white children was 10.9, and for the 
negro children it was 11.1. 

In order that comparisons of the above tables may be made, the follow- 
ing summary table is added. It gives a summary of the tables of the 
"Single Traits" mental processes. The tests are arranged from the sim- 



48 



plest to the more complex. A review of the table shows that the white 
children excel the negroe children in proportion as the tests become more 
difficult. In the first case, the variability of the negroes is not so much 
as for the whites, but as the tests grow in complexity, the negro pupils 
exceed the white pupils in variability. 

Efficiency in Mental Processes, White and Negro Childi-en. 



Nature of Test 


Number o( 
PupiU 


WHITE PUPILS 

Average Per- 
formance 


Average 
Deviation 


Number ol 
Pupils 


NEGRO PUPILS 

Average Per- 
iormance 


Average 
Deviation 


Efficiency in 














Perception 


160 


29.6 


6.2 


156 


28.6 


6.1 


Association of 














Ideas 


125 


16.6 


3.4 


149 


15.2 


4.3 


Controlled 














Association 


126 


14.6 


1.9 


95 


8.5 


3.7 


Association of 














Ideas and Con- 90 
trolled Association 


33.9 


10.9 


110 


25.5 


11.1 



Conclusion: Since it is the purpose of this paper to present the facts 
gathered in original study the conclusions and deductions are left largely 
to the reader and to those making a summary of all the Phelps-Stokes 
studies in the series. That there are important differences between the 
races; that much of the school work is being wasted; that there are no 
good negro schools in Clarke County except the Model and Training 
School; that the white schools are little better; these and a score of other 
conclusions ought to give material for serious thought and practical study. 



49 






BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Ayres: Laggards in our Schools. 

Brooks: The Agrarian Revolution in Georgia. 

Bruce: The Plantation Negro as a Freeman. 

Bryce: The Present and Future of the American Negro. 

(In American Commonwealth, Pages 512-564, 1911.) 

Du Bois: Negroes in Philadelphia. 

Atlanta University Studies. 

Giddings: Inductive Sociology. 

Gulick and Ayres: Medical Inspection of Schools. 

Hart: The Southern South. 

Hoffman: Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro. 

Kelsey: The Negro Farmer. 

King: Elements of Statistical Methods. 

Murphy: The Basis of Ascendency. 
The South and The Negro. 

Odum: Social and Mental Traits of The Negro. 

"Negro Children in the Public Schools of Philadelphia" in 
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social 
Science, September, 1913. 

Stone: Studies in The American Race Problem. 

Whipple: Manual of Mental and Physical Tests. 

Phelps-Stokes Bulletins, Nos. 1 and 2, The University of Georgia 
Publications. 



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